User:Thewellman/sandbox4

The result was delete. The arguments to keep are very poorly reasoned. The existence of an analogous article on gun violence has absolutely nothing to do with whether this article should exist; the existence of this article depends solely on the coverage that this topic has received. Some !votes do touch on the coverage, but there another problem emerges, namely that the coverage being pointed to already has been handled elsewhere. Nobody can deny vehicles are used as a tool of violence, but when the sources are largely referring to Vehicle-ramming attack, which already exists, they cannot also contribute to notability here. Vanamonde (Talk) 15:22, 23 September 2020

Damage inflicted by a vehicle bomb in Oklahoma City

Vehicular violence in the United States is difficult to document because it is typically recorded as a violent act, without reference to the use of a vehicle, or as a moving violation or accidental traffic collision. It occurs anywhere in the motor vehicle transportation system when the vehicle is intentionally used as a weapon; as the supporting environment for violent acts; or as a platform causing suffering, injury, or death. Vehicular violence can be directed outward, as road rage or a vehicle ramming attack, or inward by deliberately crashing a vehicle in a suicide act.

Speed

Insurance statistics show that high-speed cars with powerful engines, high acceleration and high top speeds are more frequently involved in crashes than cars with lower speed capacities. The speed of motor vehicles is at the core of the road injury problem. Speed influences both crash risk and crash consequences. Speed exceeding posted limits or inappropriate for existing conditions is a major cause of around one in three fatal and serious crashes. Greater speed decreases time for actions to prevent a collision and increases the severity of collision consequences. The United States increase of Interstate highway speed limits from 55 mi (89 km) per hour to 65 mi (105 km) per hour in 1987 caused a 19 to 34 percent increase in fatalities.

The vulnerability of the human body is an important design parameter for traffic speed. Pedestrians incur a risk of about 80 percent of being killed at a collision speed of 50 km (31 mi) per hour, as opposed to a 10 percent risk at a speed of 30 km (19 mi) per hour. At low speeds, drivers have more time to react to unexpected events and to avoid collisions. At speeds of less than 30 km (19 mi) per hour, pedestrians and cyclists can mix with motor vehicles in relative safety. At speeds of over 30 km (19 mi) per hour, motorists, pedestrians and cyclists increasingly make mistakes, the consequences of which are often fatal. Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists are at greater risk than vehicle occupants and usually bear the greatest burden of injury. Of particular concern is the mix between the slow-moving and vulnerable non-motorized road users and fast-moving, motorized vehicles. While there may be fewer cyclist and pedestrian casualties, these road users bear higher fatality rates.

The United States road traffic fatality rate was 15.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2000, in comparison with 11 per 100,000 in the European Union and 6.7 in Sweden where vehicle speed is restricted to 30 km (19 mi) per hour where pedestrians cannot be physically separated from cars. Traffic laws and their enforcement – or lack of enforcement – affect behavior in important ways. Focus on mobility of vehicle users may jeopardize safety of vulnerable road users where speed limits and enforcement are unpopular. Non-motor vehicle users bear a disproportionate share of road injury and risk. Children are especially vulnerable, as their physical and cognitive skills are not fully developed and their smaller stature makes it hard for them to see and to be seen. Children from poorer families and ethnic minority groups have higher rates of unintentional injury than children from more prosperous families. Poorer people comprise the majority of casualties.

Vehicle ramming attacks

Vehicles are as easy to acquire as knives, but unlike knives, which may arouse suspicion if found in one’s possession, vehicles are perceived as an essential part of modern life. Few consider the deadly and destructive capability of the motor vehicle and its capacity to cause casualties if used aggressively. Recent vehicle ramming attacks in the United States include the 2006 UNC SUV attack, the Ohio State University attack, and the 2017 New York City truck attack and Charlottesville car attack. Pedestrians killed by motor vehicles in the United States numbered 5,977 in 2017, while an estimated 137,000 required emergency room treatment for nonfatal injury inflicted with a vehicle. Vehicle ramming attacks targeting a single individual may be investigated as traffic accidents or manslaughter rather than murder, with reduced penalties and less media coverage. Drivers who hit and run from an attack may avoid identification and apprehension. Penalties for apprehended drivers vary from one state to another, perhaps only temporary suspension of driving license when the offense is considered a misdemeanor rather than a felony. The protection, anonymity, sense of power, and ease of escape provided by the vehicle lead some motorists to feel safe expressing their hostility toward others.

Vehicle bombs

Motor vehicles offer convenient transport and concealment for large quantities of explosives with delayed or remote activation devices. The vehicle structure may provide destructive fragments, and flammable liquids used as vehicle fuel may serve as an incendiary device. Danny Greene was associated with use of car bombs in Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1970s. More recent events in the United States include the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine High School massacre, and the 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt.

Drive-by shootings

Motor vehicles offer similar concealment for transport of weapons to crime scenes in situations like the 2015 San Bernardino attack, and can simultaneously serve as getaway vehicles. Using a vehicle allows the shooter to approach the intended target without being noticed and then to speed away before anyone reacts. Drive-by shootings have been a recurring feature of gang disputes in United States cities, and hip hop artists have been targeted. Drive-by shootings may result from road rage or personal disputes between neighbors, acquaintances, or strangers unrelated to gang membership. There are no national data on the volume of drive-by shootings. National statistical databases such as the Uniform Crime Reports record the shooting outcome rather than the method. Non-gang-related drive-by shootings are not well researched, but journalistic accounts and police reports suggest that these constitute a significant proportion of the drive-by shootings to which police respond. Drive-by shootings that occur as an extreme form of road rage appear to be rather unpredictable in terms of the times and locations, but often occur in reaction to seemingly trivial events, although the underlying motivation usually appears to be a series of unrelated stressors in the perpetrator's life. A drive-by shooting's prerequisites include access to a vehicle and a gun. Recent legislation has focused on transfer of guns rather than vehicles, so those who carry out drive-by shootings may use their own vehicle or one that has been borrowed, rented, or stolen.

Vehicle ownership

United States registered motor vehicles numbered 273.6 million in 2018, up from 193 million in 1990. There were approximately 227.5 million licensed drivers in the United States in 2018. Driver licensing and vehicle registration is typically required only for vehicles being operated on public roads, so inoperative vehicles and vehicles operated on private farmlands, timberlands, mining and factory properties, or racetracks might not be counted. 6.7 million vehicles were involved in collisions in 2018 and approximately thirty percent of those crashes caused injury or death. Collision losses were replaced by 6.3 million new cars sold in 2016.

Costs

United States medical care costs and productivity losses associated with injuries and deaths from motor vehicle crashes exceeded $75 billion in 2017. Vehicular violence results in tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States. More than one hundred people are killed every day from motor vehicle crashes in the United States. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the workplace in the United States accounting for 35 percent of all workplace fatalities. There are about three million nonfatal vehicle injuries annually (about one injury per hundred people). Road transport is the most dangerous situation people deal with on a daily basis; but these casualty figures attract less media attention than other, less frequent vehicle-ramming attacks, car bombs, and drive-by shootings.

Vehicle buyback programs

The state of California has a Cash for Clunkers vehicle buyback program which may help take vehicles off the streets. Eligible vehicles must be registered in California, and must start and run and be driveable, but unable to meet vehicle emission standards.

See also

• Crime in the United States
• Speed limits in the United States
• Street racing

Suicide

Vehicular violence may be directed inward as a means of suicide. The percentage of suicides among the tens of thousands of people killed annually in United States traffic collisions is unknown because suicides are often misclassified as accidents if no suicide note is found. Motor vehicles are ideal self-injurious or self-destructive instruments for persons intent upon camouflaging their suicidal motivation from others. Suicidal individuals may engage in drunk driving and speeding to conceal suicidal intentions from themselves. Suicidal collisions may kill or injure others.