&gt; This is certainly dramatic, but it is important to realize that the majority of automobile safety improvements came before 1960<p>Uhh what? Incorrect.<p>In 1960, 20.147 per 100K population died, in 2013 10.345 per 100k population died. Approximately a 50% decline (9.802 actual) between the two periods.<p>In 1937, 29.357 per 100K population died, in 1960 20.147 per 100K population died. Approximately a 32% decline (9.21 actual) between the two periods.<p>So both as a % and in literal terms the delta between 1960 and today is greater than the difference between the worst year (1937) and 1960.<p>&gt; We&#x27;ve become increasingly safety obsessed and jammed more and more expensive and heavy safety technology into vehicles as the returns have diminished dramatically.<p>But yet vehicles are lighter and cheaper today than they were in 1960 (adjusting for inflation). So even if this safety technology is increasing both price and weight (and I agree that it does), we&#x27;re still in a very good place.<p>While reduction in deaths has slowed in the last ten years, we&#x27;re just on the brink of moving into automated safety systems (e.g. auto-breaking) that will likely move things forward yet again.