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How often do you hear about WFH directly saving lives?

3 points by anonfromsomewhe ↗ HN
In USA, more than 100 people die each day in car crashes and if %5 of the population is all remote vs non remote. That approx. means 5 people saved every day? Minus other driving. Back to office means some has to die. These stats are consistent for decades, but how often do you hear about it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year

3 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 15.7 ms ] thread
cratermoon
Two words: mass transit.
mikecoles
Two more words: really sucks

Traffic jams, as horrible as they are, are quicker and more tolerable that mass transit.

warner25
Yet (from your own source) in 2020 and 2021, when so many people started working from home for the first time, per capita motor vehicle fatalities went up 7.1% and 10.5%, respectively; the worst two-year increase since 1945-1946. The rate then went down in 2022 as so many people returned to the office.

My own experience early in the pandemic was that daily 15 MPH traffic jams turned into empty highways that suddenly allowed unimpeded 65+ MPH travel. For someone who still had to go into the office quite a bit, it was lovely. But it seems that it also encouraged a lot of riskier, higher-speed driving.