[stellar678]

Thing about car crashes is...they are the #1 most common cause of death for young people from age 5-25.

If you look at the population-wide stats, things are dominated by diseases of aging because more old folks are dying overall.

Every death at age 25 has robbed us of more than double the number of years of life than a death at 50.

As for the rumination about productivity, desirability and cost - I really don’t understand your argument.

How do cars make life more affordable in communities that are well-equipped to live a car-free life? (Well-equipped meaning with density of services, walkability and transit.)

The paradox you describe is just a function of how rare these dense, people-friendly communities are in our landscape of endless exurban development crisscrossed by 6-lane expressways where you have to wait 5 minutes to cross the street while walking your dog. If we built more of these high-demand, people-centered communities, the price differential would not be so great.