Opinion: Today, 100 Americans will likely die on our roads

And we’re acting as if the only problem is some risky newfangled technology. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, July 27, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist If yesterday was a typical summer [Thursday]( in the United States, more than 100 people died in vehicle crashes. They were killed because a drunken driver hit them. Or because a driver was texting rather than looking at the road. Or because they were hit by a speeding car. Or because they themselves were driving a vehicle unsafely. Or maybe nobody did anything wrong, and bad luck led to the crash. Summer is [the deadliest season]( on America’s roads, which are now [the most dangerous]( in the industrialized world — a grim distinction that didn’t apply just a few decades ago. Worst of all, we could prevent a significant number of these deaths if we were willing to try. We would simply need to do the things that [other countries have already done]( to great success: Install more speed cameras. Crack down on smartphone use by drivers, with real enforcement and penalties. Reduce the threshold for drunken driving. Increase seatbelt use. Instead of taking these steps, however, we are fighting about the potential dangers of driverless cars. “Americans have been shaken by crashes of driverless cars and their semiautonomous counterparts, two recent surveys show,” [Ashley Halsey III of The Washington Post reports]( “and consumer groups are pushing back against what they say is a flawed effort in Congress to regulate the vehicles.” I’m all in favor of careful regulation of driverless cars, and consumer groups are right to make sure that the auto industry won’t be regulating itself. The three deaths in driverless-car crashes over the past three years were tragic and alarming. Now is an important time too, because driverless cars are on the cusp of becoming more popular. But the current mismatch between the attention to driverless cars and the attention to driver-operated cars is a big mistake. We’re acting as if the status quo is fine, and the only problem is some risky newfangled technology. In reality, the status quo is a public-health crisis, and a preventable one. Today, another 100 or so Americans — many of them young and healthy — will likely die in human-driven vehicle crashes. Even more Americans are likely to die on Saturday, the deadliest day of the week on the roads. The terrible toll will continue every day after that, until we decide to do something about it. One group doing something about it: [Families for Safe Streets]( an advocacy group composed of people who have lost children or other relatives in fatal crashes. Amy Cohen and Dana Lerner, two mothers in the group, talk about their work [in this video](. Turnout. “As favorable as the generational trends look for Democrats,” Adam Bonica, a Stanford political scientist, [writes in a Times op-ed]( “the potential gains from increasing turnout are even greater.” His piece comes with fascinating charts. The full Opinion report from The Times follows. [Impeach Rosenstein? C’mon, Man]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD In its latest and futile gesture, the House Freedom Caucus sets its sights on ousting the man overseeing Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. From Our Columnists [Pop Culture Gets Radical]( By MICHELLE GOLDBERG “Sorry to Bother You” and “Dietland” offer something we need at this moment. [Where American Renewal Begins]( By DAVID BROOKS A Baltimore-based community program provides the architecture for kids’ success. [Democrats’ Vulnerabilities? Elitism and Negativity]( By FRANK BRUNI, JANE HARMAN AND TIM RYAN Plenty could go wrong en route to the most important midterm in a generation. [The Constitutional Amendment That Reinvented Freedom]( By T.J. STILES The 14th Amendment, the one that empowered the Bill of Rights, turns 150 on Saturday. [The White House and the Strongman]( [Waving an Egyptian flag in Tahrir Square in Cairo in 2013 after the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi]( Waving an Egyptian flag in Tahrir Square in Cairo in 2013 after the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi Narciso Contreras for The New York Times By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK How the Obama administration watched the demise of Arab democracy — and paved the way for Trump’s embrace of dictators. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT Sunday Review [What’s Good for Democracy Is Also Good for Democrats]( By ADAM BONICA America is at its best when it turns the disenfranchised into the enfranchised. [‘Love Island’ and the Sexual Anxieties of Modern Britain]( By EVA WISEMAN How a reality show became a vehicle for all of the country’s neuroses around sex and gender. More in Opinion Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Germans Are Getting on Twitter. Is That a Good Thing?]( By JOCHEN BITTNER The country is late to Twitter and Facebook — but it hasn’t learned from other countries’ mistakes. [Brand Ivanka: Clothing Fit for Trumpian Times]( By RHONDA GARELICK The clothes the first daughter made reflected the same aspirational branding that brought her father to power. [Trump’s Emoluments Trap]( By KARL A. RACINE, BRIAN E. FROSH AND NORMAN L. EISEN Wednesday’s ruling on our suit against the president makes clear that he may be violating the Constitution. [Clean, Sober and $41,000 Deep in Addiction Recovery Costs]( By LELA MOORE People recovering from opioid addiction and their families discuss the financial and emotional costs of treatment. [Trump’s Fake Fix for a Bad Economic Policy]( By WALTER E. BLOCK Using tax dollars to bailout farmers hurt by President Trump’s tariffs is not the way to strengthen the economy. [Vulnerable Species in the Cross Hairs]( By JOE ROMAN AND YA-WEI LI Proposals by the Trump administration and various lawmakers threaten the effectiveness of the 45-year-old law that has brought back a host of plants and animals from the edge of extinction. [‘Don’t Ruin Our American Dream!’]( Public comments on Trump’s proposed auto tariffs reveal Americans’ anxieties and fears about the impact on their lives and businesses. [When Trump Talks, the World Listens. Should It?]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Secretary of State Pompeo leaves unclear whether the president’s foreign policy pronouncements are actual policy. Editorial Observer [A Front-Page Insult to People With Disabilities]( By PETER CATAPANO A New York Post cover story advances the harmful notion that if someone can walk, they must not have a disability. SIGN UP FOR THE OP-DOCS NEWSLETTER Find out about new [Op-Docs]( read discussions with filmmakers and learn more about upcoming events. ADVERTISEMENT Letters [The View Across the Trump Political Divide]( Readers discuss stereotypes of “Trump country” and the liberal elite, and how these perceptions may be wrong. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytopinion]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018