Photo: Editted by Autoevolution
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer - that’s one of the catchphrases we often hear. This may be a mere aphorism, but when it comes to cars we’re sorry to say it’s pure fact. A recent study based on 15-year worth data shows that even though vehicles are getting safer, inequalities in automotive accident deaths are getting bigger by the year.
The less money you have, the more you’re exposed to car accidents.
We’re living in an era where technology is everywhere. Thus, carmakers throughout the planet are using it to benefit motorists’ safety. Not only do we get airbags almost everywhere in the car, sensors and assisted braking, but as the self-driving car becomes reality, autos almost drive themselves. This we know, and we praise; it’s the proper way to use what the 21st century represents.
So far so good, but the question a group of researchers asked was whether all these features apply to all of us. Perhaps, it’s a matter of social status, of buying power, of wealth. Well, the numbers speak by themselves.
Quoted by the Washington Post, the study shows that in 1995, adjusted death rates were 15.3 per 100,000 population higher at the bottom of the education distribution than at the top of it. By 2010, this number increased to 17.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. Conducted by Sam Harper, Thomas J. Charters and Erin C. Strumpf, the research was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology recently.
Clearly, it’s not the actual lack of education that causes these differences, but the quality of life that comes with it. Lower income means cheaper and older cars, bad roads, and poor neighborhoods.
“In relative terms, adjusted death rates were 2.4 (95% CI: 1.7, 3.0) times higher at the bottom of the education distribution than at the top in 1995, increasing to 4.3 times higher (95% CI: 3.4, 5.3) by 2010. Inequality increases were larger in terms of vehicle-miles traveled,” the study shows.
So here’s our question, are the poor getting poorer or the rich getting richer?
We’re living in an era where technology is everywhere. Thus, carmakers throughout the planet are using it to benefit motorists’ safety. Not only do we get airbags almost everywhere in the car, sensors and assisted braking, but as the self-driving car becomes reality, autos almost drive themselves. This we know, and we praise; it’s the proper way to use what the 21st century represents.
So far so good, but the question a group of researchers asked was whether all these features apply to all of us. Perhaps, it’s a matter of social status, of buying power, of wealth. Well, the numbers speak by themselves.
Quoted by the Washington Post, the study shows that in 1995, adjusted death rates were 15.3 per 100,000 population higher at the bottom of the education distribution than at the top of it. By 2010, this number increased to 17.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. Conducted by Sam Harper, Thomas J. Charters and Erin C. Strumpf, the research was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology recently.
Clearly, it’s not the actual lack of education that causes these differences, but the quality of life that comes with it. Lower income means cheaper and older cars, bad roads, and poor neighborhoods.
“In relative terms, adjusted death rates were 2.4 (95% CI: 1.7, 3.0) times higher at the bottom of the education distribution than at the top in 1995, increasing to 4.3 times higher (95% CI: 3.4, 5.3) by 2010. Inequality increases were larger in terms of vehicle-miles traveled,” the study shows.
So here’s our question, are the poor getting poorer or the rich getting richer?
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