This reference page points out that 14% of all traffic fatalities are teenagers. Since there were 42,840 traffic fatalities last year that means that in 2005 alone some 6000 American young people died in automobile accidents. This is, in one year, more than twice the number of Americans killed in Iraq in three years, yet there are no calls from politicians demanding that we raise the legal driving age or impose strict nation-wide curfews on young motorists.
Why are there not? Are politicians so concerned about saving American lives in Iraq that they urge a pull-out that would leave that nation soaking in a bath of blood, but they're not willing to make the unpopular decision to raise the driving age to save the lives of our kids here at home?
It couldn't be, could it, that for many of those demanding that we cut and run in Iraq, it's not really about saving lives but rather about gaining political advantage?
