[Houshalter]

>All of this sucks - but it's the price we pay for being able to move a long distance quickly, something that seems to be a net benefit to society. (How many lives are saved by ambulances each year? How about by being able to easily visit a doctor?)

They are not mutually exclusives. You could ban private cars but still have ambulances. Or make the speed limits absurdly slow or something like that. I'm not saying that we should do this, but we are definitely choosing to sacrifice lives for our convenience.