Was just reading about this latest attack in Canada that killed 9 and injured 16 as was thinking about the ramifications of this new vector for nuts and terrorists to kill large numbers of people. I can’t think of any way to prevent things like this, since there are always large pedestrian crowds near roadways or other areas vehicles can access, and it seems to me that the copycat effect along with wide publications by the mass media will only make this method used more in the future (as seems to be the case, as the number of these incidents seems to be growing, though that might just be perception).
Can anything be done, or do we just have to suck it up and accept that things like this will happen? Is this even a problem, since out of the many 10’s of thousands of vehicle deaths a year in the US alone it’s a relatively small handful coming from such attacks?
(please note, this is NOT a gun debate…there are many of them already, so please try and stick to the OP and discuss this topic without straying to others)
Well, in this case it seems like perhaps it’s about the G7 conference (maybe?), but it could be anything, including just an accident I suppose or just some nut. So, not sure which ‘terrorists’ to really ask. The point, though…is there anything we could do about it, regardless of whether it’s a nut, a terrorist or something else? I don’t think asking what the various people who might be contemplating using this method of mass mayhem might be pissed off about is really going to do much.
But you (XT) asked if there was anything we could do. Anything at all. We could try to remove the motivation for such acts.
A local lunatic with a vehicle? No, not much we could do. But I don’t remember this being a regular occurance in days gone by.
No, it wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be or isn’t today. A lot of things weren’t done regularly in the ‘days gone by’ but are today. These vehicle attacks seem to be gaining popularity in the folks who want to do mass harm, at least that’s my perception in the last few years.
I don’t see it becoming a major terrorist tactic. Even a successful attack is only going to kill a relatively small number of people. And people already deal with the possibility of being in a car accident. Having the knowledge that terrorists are intentionally causing them would raise the anxiety but it wouldn’t be people facing a new threat.
The Toronto attacker was arrested. I assume that by now he’s got a lawyer that will prevent people from asking “Why did you do that?” (along with any other questions).
The truck attack in Nice, France killed 86 people and injured hundreds. Aside from 9/11 and attacks using explosives, I’m having trouble thinking of any terrorist attack that had that many casualties.