Asklemmy

At the end of the day though, it's just that most people aren't willing to admit to themselves that they shouldn't be driving because they're too easily distracted in the first place.

Is there any room in your mind for the possibility that some people simply have different values than you?

You're acting like the only people disagreeing with you are people who have been in accidents and are looking for something outside of themselves to blame. You're acting like deep down they agree with you that all error comes from a lack of competence and responsibility.

(Aside: I hate cars and our car-centric infrastructure and I haven't been in any accidents, which means I don't fit into your narrative here. But that's not likely to sway you. And I know that's not likely to sway you. Because I know you don't share my perspective.)

But is it remotely possible to you that some people out there might just believe:

mistakes and errors are inevitable for everyone -- not just for stupid, careless, irresponsible, incompetent, hopeless lost causes masquerading as people.

And even if mistakes were only made by those kinds of people -- meaning a single mistake could mark you as a "bad person" -- saving "bad people's" lives is still better than letting those people die. Just because they couldn't figure out a car doesn't mean they deserve to die in an accident (or starve to death because their suburban house is too far from the nearest grocery store and they accept that they can't drive.)

Is it really impossible for you to imagine that some people might just place value on human lives, regardless of cost and regardless of personal responsibility?

Prehistoric humans are now known to have spent years dragging around and caring for their paralyzed tribe mates millennia ago. Meaning the kind of people I'm talking about have existed for thousands of years. People who don't care about personal responsibility. People who just want the best for everyone around them.

If you told these people, "some of your tribe mates will be incapable of safely driving vehicles. How should we build this city?" They would (once you showed them what all of those words meant) have intentionally laid out the city to allow those poorly-driving tribe mates to walk or use transit. They would place nearby grocery stores. They would direct high density housing to go up in the area. They would try to make it possible to avoid using cars. And the city they built would have 90% less cars because of it.

To them such a city would be an obvious choice.

You don't have to agree with the cavemen who cared for their dying relatives. But please acknowledge that they existed, and didn't hold your beliefs. Please acknowledge that the people you're arguing with, don't hold your beliefs.