Devils advocate

How do we really know that? If people walk more and drive less one could argue that road deaths go down too. US has a lot more cars and roads than EU. And we have this massive Interstate system.

Have you verified your numbers? With some basic searching I found that the amount of cars registered in the EU seems to be comparable (if not slightly more than) than the USA, while the total length of public roads in the USA is about 10% more than that one of the EU. Keep in mind that in the EU you have a lot of European routes which can stretch vast amount of distances over several countries, similar to the US' interstate system. The biggest factor I can think of is the lack of sidewalks and bike lanes in the US on many roads, additionally there's a disregard of bicyclists by car users, which negatively encourages these two to be as prevalent on the roads as compared to in the EU, since everyone is incentivized to just get a car anyway.

You might want to double check your own numbers. EU having “comparable or slightly more” cars than the US depends entirely on whether you count the EU as a single bloc or as individual nations. Per capita car ownership is still higher in the US. Road length is also not the relevant metric. What matters is road design, lane width, speed environment, lighting, and pedestrian exposure.

Pointing to “a lot of European routes” does not explain why US pedestrian deaths climbed 80 percent in 15 years while EU rates fell. Road geometry, car size, and enforcement patterns do. Sidewalks and bike lanes are part of the story but not the whole story.

If we are trading verification requests, the burden applies both ways.

>How do we really know that?

As the Devils advocate, the burden is upon you to propose a viable alternative.

Merely asking "what if it's not that" is called sowing doubt, a practice that aims to undermine trust in established information.

Suggest a viable reason for any of the below figures, and then others can chime in with their criticisms of your rationale.

USA car fatalities over the last 15 years:

- 30% increase in road deaths

- 80% increase in pedestrian fatalities by car

- 50% increase in cyclist fatalities by car

You are mixing up “Devils advocate” with “prove the negative for me.” The point of Devils advocate is to test assumptions, not to accept the first correlation as gospel.

If pedestrian and cyclist deaths rise 80% and 50% while vehicle size, road design, lighting, speeding, and impairment trends also shift, then asking whether those factors matter is not “sowing doubt.” It is literally how causal analysis works. If your position is that questioning causality is illegitimate unless I hand you a fully formed alternative theory, then you are not defending evidence. You are defending certainty.

nope, and arguing the point was anticipated. You've still not presented anything.

You're free to suggest an alternative concept, and that would be discussed because this is a forum, and not a place to play transparent political games.

No. I am not required to present an alternative explanation just to question someone’s claim. Challenging an inference is valid on its own.