Back-to-School classroom instructions would have you thinking peanuts are one of the biggest dangers confronting your children. And it doesn’t let up there. Parenting magazines…Facebook posts…birthday parties…organized sports…the peanut is the ultimate boogeyman.
My kids have had their share of basketball and soccer games. Each week one of the families is responsible for bringing snacks for the entire team to enjoy after a game.
Every so often, someone breaks the social norm of cookies and sugar water.
Have you ever brought a team snack that resembles a nut? Or a snack that was packaged in the same state as a peanut? Or a snack that has a peanut-colored wrapper? You won’t get anywhere near the field. A swarm of helicopter parents and minivans box you in and destroy your stash.
The peer pressure associated with peanut allergies is palpable. All in the name of public safety. A reasonable person would guess peanut allergies kill hundreds of unsuspecting children each year.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Americans were killed by peanut allergies in a 10-year period.
Meanwhile, in the very same universe…
…over 400,000 Americans were killed in traffic crashes during a 10-year period. America’s “normal” is to lose 30,000 to 40,000 friends and family members every year in traffic.
Vision Zero is a movement to eliminate traffic injuries and fatalities. (Learn more here and here.) This isn’t a wishful thinking movement. It’s based on the knowledge that road design is a huge contributor to traffic violence.
In other words, traffic deaths are preventable. Most American road design encourages high speeds and poor behavior. High speeds and poor behavior causes crashes. And crashes are a public health crisis.
Death by traffic (1996–2005) = 423,672 Americans. (NHTSA)
Death by peanut (1996–2005) = 13 Americans. (CDC)
We have a zero tolerance for peanut deaths. A peanut vision zero. But changing street design to save lives? Meh, not so much.
Our culture is programmed to think speeding in cars with minimal delay is the ideal condition. Most American roads were engineered to encourage reckless behavior — even though traffic crashes are the number one killer of children.
Speed is our culture’s idol, and traffic engineering is the alter where we sacrifice our babies.
Narrower travel lanes, separated bike paths, wider sidewalks, single-lane roundabouts, scramble crosswalks…we can save thousands of lives every year in urbanized areas.
Shift the safety culture from outside the transportation industry.
We need soccer moms and dads to rearrange their safety priorities and visit city hall or the county board of supervisors. PTA meetings would be a great forum to educate other parents.
Death by peanut is preventable. Those 1–2 lost lives per year are tragic.
Death by traffic is preventable. Those 30,000–40,000 lost lives per year deserve some attention.
The most dangerous threat facing American children is the drive to school or soccer games, not the snacks they’re given.