Effort in Saving Lives

Robin Hanson is one of the best modern thinkers out there.  He is incredibly good at spotting the inconsistencies and hypocricies in our society, asking thought-provoking questions, and proposing logical solutions.  Here is his latest:

 

Consider the vast legal apparatus we maintain to reduce the US's ~30,000 annual car crash deaths. This includes a vast complex of traffic laws, such as re speeding and stop signs, auto safety rules and tests, and huge police forces and courts devoted to enforcing all this.

Now consider that catheter-related infections at hospitals killl a similar number of folks, and can be almost completely stopped via a simple five step procedure, and yet we have almost no related legal apparatus.