alt Hacker News> The US had the second-highest avoidable mortality rate—deaths caused by conditions that can be prevented with primary care or treated with timely medical intervention. Only Mexico had higher avoidable mortality. Similarly, the US also had the second-highest rating on years of potential life lost, a measure used to estimate premature death. Again, only Mexico had a higher rating.
About 41k people die on the road in the US per year. While this is very high, and worse than pretty much any other developed country, it’s not going to move the needle _that_ much.
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Not car accidents; obesity from lack of exercise.
40% of Americans are obese and 75% are overweight. This is largely outside of the control of the medical system, but has a significant impact on mortality and life expectancy.
Driving everywhere has the collateral effect of ensuring that people get less exercise. Mexico has an astonishingly high obesity rate (a bit higher than the USA last time I checked), and this increases the risks of many non-car-related causes of death (and illness).