[mikeash]

Is it not? There are certainly some outliers (e.g. terrorism), but overall, traffic deaths seem to get more attention given its death rate than other causes of death.

For example, annual traffic deaths in the US are about the same as annual deaths from chronic liver disease or suicide. Suicide gets some attention, liver disease very little, while traffic deaths get all sorts of attention, from massive R&D efforts by car makers to seat belt campaigns to heavy police enforcement of safety-related traffic laws.

As another example, heart disease and stroke kill about 20 times as many Americans as traffic accidents, but it's legal for me to eat 6,000 calories of bacon a day while it's illegal for me not to wear my seat belt. (This is not a complaint against seat belt laws. I think they're a fine idea. I'm just pointing out a disparity in legal attention.)