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Anyone been to Italy?
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: scary crayons on November 01, 2011, 05:28:05 pm ---But also, if I started worrying about plane crashes whenever I flew, I'd have to start worrying about car crashes whenever I drove or rode in a car. Statistically speaking, I believe the latter are more likely.
--- End quote ---
I think about that, too.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: scary crayons on November 01, 2011, 05:28:05 pm ---I'm not big on flying, but that's because of the inconveniences and discomfort, not fear. I'm like you -- I figure I'll just leave my fate to Fate.
But also, if I started worrying about plane crashes whenever I flew, I'd have to start worrying about car crashes whenever I drove or rode in a car. Statistically speaking, I believe the latter are more likely. Even if you argue that, per mile flying or driving, flying is more dangerous (the statistics are somewhat unclear), it's not MUCH more dangerous.
--- End quote ---
The stats are 1 in 100 of being in an automobile accident.
But that includes fender benders.
I don't believe there is the airline equivalent of a fender bender.
I'm more concerned about the stats on SURVIVING. In that case, I'd say the car has it above the airplane in safety if something goes wrong.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on November 01, 2011, 09:19:37 pm ---The stats are 1 in 100 of being in an automobile accident.
But that includes fender benders.
--- End quote ---
Yes, and the vast majority of airplane accidents involve small private planes, which you're not flying in.
Look, the statistics are complex. Here's another take, found in about five seconds of googling:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99845.htm
--- Quote ---In the US, each year there are about 40,000 deaths per year in automobile accidents vs. about 200 in air transport. To put this in perspective, the chance of dying in an automobile accident is about 1000 times more than winning a typical state lottery in a year.
If we ignore property and bodily damage and focus on fatalities only, we should look at fatality rates per passenger mile traveled. This require some research. You can go to the National Transportation Safety board website (http://www.itsasafety.org) to do some research or look at a summary table here (http://hazmat.dot.gov/riskcompare.htm). According to the latter, each year in the US 1 out of 6800 drivers dies in an auto accident. The rate for airline passengers is 1 in 1.6 million. The same table shows that per passenger mile, air travel is safer by more than a factor of two. I doubt this last figure; I think it should be about 100x safer, because I guess we drive and fly the same number of miles (give or take a factor or 2-5) per year, yet fatalities are 200 times higher for autos than for airlines.
--- End quote ---
There may be counterarguments. I'm not going to take the time to google extensively to try to get to the bottom of it.
Because either way -- even if car travel is marginally safer -- it's all relative. If you're terrified of flying, for fear of dying in a crash, you should be at least pretty scared of driving. for the same reason.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: scary crayons on November 02, 2011, 05:39:01 pm ---Because either way -- even if car travel is marginally safer -- it's all relative. If you're terrified of flying, for fear of dying in a crash, you should be at least pretty scared of driving. for the same reason.
--- End quote ---
I have to admit that one of the things that does scare me is the idea of my dad and me both being killed at once in a crash when we're, say, driving to or from a holiday dinner with the cousins. :-\
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: scary crayons on November 02, 2011, 05:39:01 pm ---Yes, and the vast majority of airplane accidents involve small private planes, which you're not flying in.
Look, the statistics are complex. Here's another take, found in about five seconds of googling:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99845.htm
There may be counterarguments. I'm not going to take the time to google extensively to try to get to the bottom of it.
Because either way -- even if car travel is marginally safer -- it's all relative. If you're terrified of flying, for fear of dying in a crash, you should be at least pretty scared of driving. for the same reason.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, I've read those numbers before, but the numbers are already skewed if they're comparing airplanes to cars. They'd have to compare 80+ cars to one airplane to get comparable numbers. e.g. 68,000 killed in traffic fatalities...were they all in one car? A bus?
But again, let's talk survivability. How many cars simply crashed and people walked away, versus how many planes crashed and people walked away? That's what I'm interested in.
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