Oh I have. I used to ride motorcycles and there's no better way to feel out those roads, I've been off-road too.

But the reality is it is the main form of transportation and it is not optional for most Americans. Which means we have a duty to make it as safe as possible. Yeah that also means boring. We've largely let capitalism and personal preference rule the day and motor vehicle accidents are the largest non-disease cause of death because of it.

And before anyone gets all up in arms about the every day person knowing a ton of regulations, this should all be taken care of on the manufacturer and seller side of things. The size requirements for commercial licenses should come right down to invalidating future purchases of giant pickup trucks, you know the ones, so big they can't park properly and an M1A2 tank has better visibility. Speed governors should prevent going over 80mph. Headlights should have a max capacity and a thermal camera should be standard to make night driving clear as day.

But the biggest thing by far is we need to make a project of mass transit such that driving becomes a profession and a hobby, not the main means of transportation. If we can get commuters and road trippers off the road then motor vehicle accident deaths will fall dramatically.

The statistic here isn't accidents. It's fatalities in accidents at X speed. Germans aren't driving cars that are any safer than the rest of Europe. If they get into an accident at 70mph or higher then their chance of death is also sharply increased.

The big difference between German roads and American ones is Germans can generally opt out by taking a train. Americans cannot.