Should The Media Cover Tesla Accidents? (chicagotribune.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader rufey writes: Last weekend a Tesla vehicle was involved in a crash near Salt Lake City Utah while its Autopilot feature was enabled. The Tesla, a Model S, crashed into the rear end of a fire department utility truck, which was stopped at a red light, at an estimated speed of 60 MPH. "The car appeared not to brake before impact, police said. The driver, whom police have not named, was taken to a hospital with a broken foot," according to the Associated Press. "The driver of the fire truck suffered whiplash and was not taken to a hospital."
Elon Musk tweeted about the accident:

It's super messed up that a Tesla crash resulting in a broken ankle is front page news and the ~40,000 people who died in US auto accidents alone in past year get almost no coverage. What's actually amazing about this accident is that a Model S hit a fire truck at 60mph and the driver only broke an ankle. An impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death.

The Associated Press defended their news coverage Friday, arguing that the facts show that "not all Tesla crashes end the same way." They also fact-check Elon Musk's claim that "probability of fatality is much lower in a Tesla," reporting that it's impossible to verify since Tesla won't release the number of miles driven by their cars or the number of fatalities. "There have been at least three already this year and a check of 2016 NHTSA fatal crash data -- the most recent year available -- shows five deaths in Tesla vehicles."

Slashdot reader Reygle argues the real issue is with the drivers in the Autopilot cars. "Someone unwilling to pay attention to the road shouldn't be allowed anywhere near that road ever again."

Comments

Re:No

[Raenex]

Liberal: "willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas."

What "liberal" has come to mean in the United States politically:
- Open borders.
- Illegal immigrants.
- Soft on crime.
- Islamophilia.
- Welfare.
- "No platforming".
- Anti-gun ownership.
- "Rights" that 99.9% must adopt for the 0.01% (transphilia).
- Anti-white.

"Liberals" who don't agree with the above will be shamed and kicked out of the club.

Re:of course

[flug]

FWIW Tesla has approx. 5-10X more fatal crashes than do similar cars driven by similar drivers on similar roads.

They are not by any stretch safer than human drivers. This is a myth promulgated by a master salesman.