"We as a society just need to focus on getting out of this local minima that we are stuck in. It is clear to any of us here on HN that autonomous cars will result in fewer deaths, I have no doubts about that whatsoever, humans are statistically terrible drivers."

Getting out of a "local minimum" by definition requires things to get worse before they get better - that's what makes it a local minimum. So it requires faith, which is belief in the absence of clear evidence. Faith is always uncertain, which is why people get strident and appeal to emotion when it is challenged.