this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] DrWorm@piefed.social 83 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Mississippi is always the worst of any statistic

[–] deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

Mississippi is the only state that doesn't specifically prohibit drinking and driving (as long as you stay below the 0.08% BAC)

[–] card797@champserver.net 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You gotta enforce traffic laws in order to maintain safety.

Also*, where is Maine?

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I remember reading years back that Mississippi is the only state where it's legal for the driver to drink and drive (as long as they keep it below 0.08). Multiple defenders on Reddit said its safe because its still below the legal limit.

Couldnt be related, could it? Nahhh

https://dui.drivinglaws.org/resources/can-a-passenger-drink-alcohol.htm

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don't know much about Mississippi, but I know that in neighboring Louisiana, there are drive-through daiquiri places.

the fine print of the law says that the open container law is not applicable to containers with frozen alcoholic beverage where the lid is intact and no straw is protruding through the lid.

In most cases, daiquiris adhere to the “tape rule.” Most daiquiri shops will put a piece of tape over the straw hold on the lid. If this tape is removed or broken then the drink is considered an open container.

So a piece of tape counts as a "seal." They're not even trying.

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[–] itslola@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Wait, are you saying BAC while driving must be 0.00 in some parts of the States, or am I misunderstanding? It's 0.05 in most (all?) parts of Australia (except if you're in a restricted licence category). It's not encouraged, but it's legal.

Figured you guys would have more permissive laws than we do.

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No I'm saying you're not allowed to be drinking alcohol while you drive. Which you are in Mississippi.

USA freedom warriors (tm) on Reddit say 'that's fine because they still have to be under the legal limit'. Unable to fathom that the idea of normalizing drinking alcohol while you drive encourages irresponsible behaviour amongst other negatives, beyond just staying under the BAC limit.

[–] itslola@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Ahhh, yeah, that's a bit cooked. The freedom warriors bit isn't surprising, though. You'd expect them to be in favour of "the freedom to be as irresponsible as you like".

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 13 points 3 days ago (13 children)

Victoria is that low cos they don’t fuck around when it comes to driving fines. The speed limit means limit, and they’re cracking down hard on drivers using phones.

[–] alansuspect@aussie.zone 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Victorians are some of the worst/dangerous drivers I've seen, but I'm not in Victoria.

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[–] Lembot_0004@discuss.online 39 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Ok, noted: New York is almost on par with civilized regions.

[–] funkajunk@lemmy.world 31 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That might be skewed as most of their population are in New York City, and more than half of the city doesn't even own a car.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 33 points 4 days ago (2 children)

That's pretty much the point of the chart. Better public infrastructure decrease the deaths from cars.

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[–] Geometrinen_Gepardi@sopuli.xyz 35 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I understand this is largely due to Americans wanting to get drunk like everyone else but also having to drive everywhere.

[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 38 points 4 days ago (2 children)

And gigantic motor vehicles.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (2 children)

And terrible roads and/or regulations? I can't help but notice the worst offenders are conservative areas and those usually are neglectful.

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[–] Botzo@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

There are so many dumb regulations and circumstances that functionally push people to giant vehicles.

For instance: I replaced my 2016 VW golf base model with an electric F150 this year for a multitude of reasons. I got a refund from insurance (with the same coverage). None of this makes sense except that I'm less likely to be injured by other motorists in my 3.5ton truck. I found this depressing.

[–] Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 7 points 3 days ago

You can always count on Mississippi! I'm surprised Texas isn't higher, we drive like maniacs.

[–] Allemaniac@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

getting a drivers license in mississippi is basically show up to the DMV, suck a cock and drive home or what?

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

Mississippi has drive-through combo shops: liquor store / DMV / KFC.

Saves time on your way to and home from church.

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 8 points 3 days ago

21 Mississippi, 22 Mississippi...

Count van Count

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 22 points 4 days ago (10 children)

Thought it would be interesting to compare with EU, they published an article in 2023 (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?oldid=630784) with the following data. This graph uses a number per 1 million inhabitants so divide by 10 to compare it.

Road accident fatalities, 2023 (number per million inhabitants)

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 days ago

The way this chart is formatted is making me more angry than it should lol

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It's around 2.5 per 100 000 in Norway.

[–] itslola@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

How the heck are Victorians down the bottom? Is it just the sheer size of our population keeping that number in check...?

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[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Wait what?? British Columbia is less than Alberta? There are single lanes in dangerous areas in comparison to Alberta.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

In fairness Australia has a low population density, and is not so mountainous, and we have very little snow et cetera.

That said I guess we do have hazards like kangaroos, and a larger road network to maintain (per capita).

Also depending on. When these stats are from they might pre-date the influx of shitty over-sized little-mans American cars. Thats sure to increase the rates of fatalities.

I'm guessing gun violence is much the same.

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (5 children)

America is more in the middle of the road when you look at the whole globe, and don’t just select a few counties with lower death rates.

https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/estimated-road-traffic-death-rate-(per-100-000-population)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

Africa is currently the reigning champ for vehicle related deaths.

[–] breecher@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 days ago

Yes, but that does not make it any better, since the US should be compared to other Western developed countries. That is like people saying that the number of gun deaths in the US isn't that bad because they are worse in Ukraine or Syria, you know, active war zones.

[–] Allemaniac@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

yes but whole africa is developing nations with ultra bad infrastructure like roads and intersections. You should be comparing USA to peering nations, like western europe or countries of the commonwealth. Unless you admit that USA is also third world shit hole

[–] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I think it’s fair to compare like with like. Many African countries have poor infrastructure, inadequate enforcement of traffic laws, rapid urbanization, unsafe vehicles, and limited emergency medical services. Its easy for a Western country to look better compared to that, but is it a fair comparison?

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[–] bier@feddit.nl 11 points 4 days ago (8 children)

The Netherlands has 4.19

The Netherlands is close in size to Maryland, and close in the number of inhabitants as New York. Also half of the traffic is cars and half is bicycles. It's pretty insane how bad Mississippi is.

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[–] Gladaed@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago

Clearly fake as it doesn't show a state that's better the non Americans. In big America, there are clearly more states!

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