Top story on the New York Times website all day today is carnage—the tragic helicopter crash in Iraq that killed 31 Americans and the tragic train smashup in California that killed at least 10.
But here’s an even bigger tragedy: on average, in the United States, 116 people die from motor vehicle crashes every single day. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death at every age from 4 to 33.
The media gravitates toward big-bang stories like trains or helicopters crashing, but largely ignores the steady grind: The dull but far more important story of more than 41,000 Americans killed by cars in a single year.
