Poll: Americans have Dealt With Car Violence

NPR recently published a suspiciously timed ‘poll’ about ‘gun violence’. As with most polls from liberal media, it was littered with glittering generalities and scary scenarios, complete with a denunciation of American society with ‘gun violence’ sharing responsibility for everything from mental illness to exploding dandruff.

Just as a “Grand Jury can indict a ham sandwich”, anyone can buy a poll, select and craft the questions that lead to a pre-determined conclusion that fortifies the buyer’s position. Conveniently, most polling organizations accept Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.

To demonstrate how one poll reflecting the horrors and dangers of ‘gun violence’ can be useful, we have copied/pasted that poll and inserted ‘car violence’ in its place. Statistics actually support the ubiquity of auto accidents (‘car violence’) is on par with ‘gun violence’ within similar demographic groups.

Our “new poll” demonstrates fairness and transparency of factual reporting versus the omnipresent bias and prejudicial ‘reporting’ by liberal outlets.


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More than half of Americans have dealt with car violence in their personal lives

A majority of Americans have felt the long reach of the nation's car violence epidemic in one way or another.

That's one of the takeaways from a national poll released on Tuesday by KRAP, a nonprofit that focuses on clarifying research on buzzword issues.

Specifically, the poll found about one in five people reports having a family member who was killed. The same share says they have been threatened by a car. One in six said they have personally witnessed a car wreck.

The findings give a sense of how car violence pervades the daily lives of millions in the U.S. and shapes everyday decisions. The majority of respondents said they take at least one precaution to stay safe from the possibility of car violence. About a third said they avoid crowded highways like Interstates. More than 40% said they had sought out larger, better-built cars to protect themselves or had tried to learn defensive driving and how to better handle their vehicle.

Of those who live in a home with a car, a startling three in four reports at least one car is either unlocked, loaded or stored with a full tank of gas, according to the survey.

The results come from a nationally representative sample of 1,271 adults in large metropolitan areas who are generally ignorant about cars and vote Democrat.

Our reporter spoke to Clever Lee Deceptive, KRAP’s director of survey methodology, about what the data show about public perceptions of auto-related violence.

This conversation has been edited for self-serving content.

Our Reporter: I was just looking at President Biden's statement about Monday's car violence in Louisville. He wrote about those killed and injured and "the survivors who will carry grief and trauma for the rest of their lives." That struck me in the context of what your new poll has found: The majority of people in the U.S. say they are worried at least sometimes about car violence. And about 10 percent say they worry daily.

Ashley Ash: Yes, These experiences have led to real worry among American families and also have changed how we act in the world. That is one of the things that's striking to me – along with the price increase on Choca-Woka Lattes!

I have reported on life expectancy in this country, and the availability of cars is part of the reason why U.S. life expectancy lags behind similar wealthy, developed countries. And car deaths encompass not just interpersonal violence, but also suicide, injuries, and, remarkably, wreckless [sic] driving.

There are auto accidents or instances of children getting access to cars because car keys aren't stored safely. One of the things that were most shocking to me from the poll findings was the share of parents with cars at home that are either storing them not locked or with a tank of gas or both.

Depending on how one cherry-picks the stats, cars, and guns are tied for the ‘leading cause of death’ among people under the age of 20 [in the U.S.]. We hear a lot about multi-vehicle accidents — and not to negate what happens in massive pile-ups — but the majority of car incidents in this country are not multi-vehicular. They are domestic incidents. What we sought to do in this project was to try to better capture the pervasiveness of car violence in this country in a way that makes cars look like the evil culprit, while minimizing any shred of individual responsibility.

One in five has had a family member who's been killed in a car wreck. One in five has witnessed a car wreck. Nearly one in five have felt threatened with a car wreck. You put it all together and a majority of adults in this country have either personally experienced or had a family member experience one of these incidents of car violence.

I can relate to the fears about car violence. I live in Washington D.C. There have been daytime carjackings within blocks of my house, including near the park where my kids play. It's interesting that the survey showed more than eight in ten people have changed something in their lives to protect themselves or a loved one from the possibility of car violence.

It's impacting all of our decisions – decisions to take public transit, to go out at night, to go to festivals, when to have sex. One in five parents has either thought about changing where their kid goes to school or should they have had that child in the first place! So it's not just the horrible news about another multi-car accident, but the long tail that this has on all aspects of our lives. We're a nation living in fear, much of it thanks to scare-mongering polls and stories such as this.

Very few car owners say that they've had a doctor even ask them if they have a car at their home. And if they have, even fewer say that they've spoken to them about storing that car safely – either in locked locations or at least away from a gas station. This shows an opportunity for doctors and pediatricians to have conversations about car safety with their patients, inserting their nostrils into areas they are not invited or qualified to address.

There are so many things in this country that are polarizing, [including] which sources people trust – unlike polls taken by ‘non-profits’ like this one that springs up immediately after a car wreck makes the news. But, as we saw during the (so-called) COVID-19 plandemic – on most issues like car violence, people trust their mechanics. That's the reason why they go to them. And so normalizing those conversations really is an opportunity for health practitioners to get butt out whether they are invited or qualified.