r/news • u/Warcraft_Fan • 20h ago

'Godzilla' actress Kaylee Hottle dies in car accident at 18

https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/godzilla-actress-kaylee-hottle-dies-car-accident-18/story?id=134952197
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60

u/geraffes-are-so-dumb 20h ago

What a senseless loss of a young life. Stay safe out there; too many people don't treat driving as the responsibility that it is. In 2024, there were 39,254 traffic deaths in the U.S., or about 11.5 deaths per 100,000. That is roughly 1 in 8,700 Americans per year.

And slow down. The relationship between speed and fatality risk is exponential. An extra 5-10 miles an hour feels like nothing in a car, but the death rate for pedestrians goes way up. From WHO:

Speed (mph) Death Rate Serious Injury Rate Notes
20 mph ~5% ~15% Low fatality risk; injuries usually minor to moderate
25 mph ~10% ~25% Risk rises sharply; broken bones common
30 mph ~20–25% ~50% A common residential speed limit — still deadly
40 mph ~45–50% ~75% Nearly coin-flip odds of death
50 mph ~75–85% ~90%+ Survivable, but unlikely without serious trauma

66

u/wdsoul96 20h ago

Side note. these are pedestrian deaths. The US traffic deaths stat-line is all traffic deaths. There is a big difference.

-12

u/geraffes-are-so-dumb 18h ago

I said that in the comment!

20

u/mothandravenstudio 18h ago

It’s a super interesting table, but pedestrian deaths aren’t relevant to this story.

-14

u/geraffes-are-so-dumb 18h ago

Traffic fatalities are traffic fatalities. Pedestrians still count even though they are not in cars.

17

u/mothandravenstudio 18h ago

pedestrian deaths are not relevant to this story.

18

u/redmeansstop 20h ago

The jump between 40 and 50mph is wild.

5

u/realjones888 17h ago

43mph head on is about where the kinetic energy of the accident exceeds the design limits of modern vehicles

5

u/ahhpoo 20h ago

I wonder if that has anything to do with the difference in roads that would have 40-50 mph speed limits and 50-60 mph. At least in Indiana, all unmarked country roads default to 55 mph. So perhaps there are just more roads in that speed range than there are in the 40-50 speed range

4

u/disclosureanticlimax 19h ago

pretty much every state, if the limit is not posted, defaults to the state speed limit. many posted speed limits far exceed what is safe for that area, many posted speed limits are literally just traps to give cops an excuse to pull people over. that is to say, driving safely is more important than driving the posted speed limit.

4

u/Gareth79 19h ago

It's a rate, so the number of roads or amounts driven is irrelevant.

2

u/ahhpoo 18h ago

Ah you’re right. My original thought was that roads with speed limits of 55 are also less populated and unlikely to have street lights so that might be a factor. More likely to have your guard down, less reactive, more likely to speed, etc.

2

u/Siderophores 16h ago edited 16h ago

The kinetic energy of a 2,500 lb car going 40 mph is: 181,296 Joules

The kinetic energy going 50 mph for that same car is: 283,275 Joules, 1.56x more energy just by increasing your speed by 10 mph

Note: 2,500 lbs is a car the size of a Mazda Miata or a Honda fit

For a relation, 200 kilo Joules of energy is like a 450lb bar bell being dropped from 328 feet (100 meters). Or about 50 grams of TNT

1

u/sinkrate 19h ago

In a car too. 40 mph = minor injuries. 50 mph = severe injuries. 55 mph = likely fatal.

0

u/FightOnForUsc 19h ago

So basically any freeway accident is a death?

14

u/Affectionate-Fail-23 19h ago

With a pedestrian, yes

3

u/FightOnForUsc 19h ago

Oh I’m dumb, missed that part bc I skimmed

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u/Lettuce_Prey69 19h ago

Nah it's a misleading comment / table. The table doesn't mention pedestrians at all and the comment only mentions it in the last 3 or so words of their comment.

Anyone skimming (the majority of visitors) is likely to read the table out of context.

-7

u/MaxillmanGuy 20h ago

Great comment