Intra-species violence is always at a maximum at mating time. A high level of testosterone is linked to a high level of aggressivity. Young males of the human species are known to be most prone to violence (in comparison to other humans) and to have a high level of testosterone.

It has been claimed here that the level of violence is increasing. This is certainly untrue for interpersonal violence excluding war. This type of violence has been decreasing since centuries. Any look into old chronicles shows that. I guess that even with war the probability of getting killed by another human has decreased for many centuries. What has increased, however, is the greater accessability (TV, internet, newspaper) to stories about violence. Humans tend to make spontaneous guesstimates of frequencies according to the ease with which instances come to the mind. That is not a very reliable guess and is strongly biased.

The increase of road accidents seems impressive only if you forget that at the same time the level of work related fatal accidents has decreased by a far greater number. We earn our bread at a much safer way nowadays.

Wolfgang