The leading substance use-related cause of death in Mexico is smoking, which claims over 40,000 lives per year. But it is violent deaths, particularly among the young, which claim the most popular and media attention. We thus should be deeply concerned about the more than 24,000 violent deaths that happen each year in Mexico because of…
…traffic accidents. The Economist tells the surprising and sad tale about how an attempted solution for widespread corruption resulted in virtually no standards being set for drivers in much of the country, with deadly consequences.
Money quote:
Mexico was not always so freewheeling. Until the 1990s driving tests were near-universal, but it took unusual robustness of character to pass without paying a bribe. Rather than tackle corruption, some states simply abolished the test. Others followed suit in order to attract applicants (and income) from out-of-state residents.
Not an “attempted solution” for widespread corruption, but rather a giving up on the notion of being able to stop it.
Part of the reason for the corruption, and, in particular, the inability to correct the corruption today, is the huge influx of black market money into the country.
If the United State stopped supplying all those black market funds (by actually seriously exploring market alternatives), we might be able to not only save lives through reducing the fiscal power of drug-trafficking organizations, but also, by helping shore up government systems (without as many fully-owned officials), indirectly save some lives on the highways.