A friend of mine once told me his definition of insanity: “doing things the same way and expecting a different outcome.”

We, collectively, the people of these United States , we are insane. We must be; how else can you explain our willingness to accept the death each year of over 40,000 people (with millions more sustaining serious injuries) in traffic-related crashes with nary a shrug? Though we mourn each death as a tragedy, no one seems to be interested in actually changing the behavior or street design to change this outcome this year or the next.