Flight 4U9525
Out of context: Reply #41
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- nb0
The argument that flying is safer than driving is generally based on distance travelled. So, if you compare, say, a million Kilometres travelled by car against a million KMs travelled by air, you'd find that more people died in car accidents than died in an airplane crashes. It makes it appear as though flying is much safer.
But, that isn't exactly a fair comparison because people travel much further, much faster and less often by plane. The further the trip, the more likely someone is to fly, as well. And obviously, for transatlantic or transpacific travel, flying is the only option. This skews the numbers.
The bigger thing that skews it, I think, is differences in driving that could change how these statistics apply to you. For deaths in cars, there are a few factors that increase the odds of dying. The biggest contributors are speeding (by far), fatigue, not wearing a seatbelt, distracted driving, and alcohol impairment. So, you can actually improve your odds of dying in a vehicle by being a safe driver and wearing your seatbelt. Of course you can't control others, but you would absolutely reduce your odds of dying in an accident by being a safe driver. I'd bet if you look at the statistics of "safe" drivers (actual safe drivers, not people who think they are so good at driving that they can speed or talk on the phone when they want) you'd find that driving is relatively safe. And what about how far you drive, and where you need to go? Many people commute daily on highways where the speed is 110km/h or greater. Personally, my commute is in a city where traffic and roads ensure I’m never capable of driving over 60km/h, and the vast majority of the trip is starting/stopping between 0km/h and 30km/h. It’s quite difficult to die in a car at slow speeds unless someone hits you doing much faster. But, it’s unlikely to see anyone able to get to those fast speeds in a city where commuting means traffic jams and slow driving. Stay away from freeways, because it’s hard to die in a crash when you’re going slow.
In an airplane, you don't have the option to improve your own personal odds. The odds are basically the same for everyone on every flight, other than flying in the summer vs winter, and where you choose to fly (e.g., flying over mountains might be more dangerous, not sure). Virtually every airline in every country now follows the same type of training and safety practices. Eg. Two pilots required to act as a “check” against each other at all times, similar safety checks, similar training, similar rules about fatigue, etc. This has been standardized since about the early 90s, I think, when many countries wanted to improve their safety records to remain competitive in air travel. And you can be sure that when a plane crashes, everyone has their seatbelt and is folded over in the correct position in an attempt to save themselves.
So, airplane deaths happen despite the fact that everyone is always doing everything in the safest way possible. Vehicle death probability varies greatly with driver choices.
It's a global standardization, which skews everything, too. If we look at regional automobile deaths, we find massive differences when comparing two regions: for example comparing an area of India against Sweden. What I'm saying here is: if you happen to live to Sweden and never drive in India, the global driving statistics aren't relevant to you.
TLDR: driving is probably a little safer than flying on a per trip basis. And driving is especially safer if you're a safe, alert, well-practiced driver, and you happen to be driving in a region that has fewer automobile deaths than the global average.
- meh - I would hate to have to have dinner or drinks with you.fadein11
- did you really waste your time posting this?PonyBoy
- "don't have the shellfish"
"oh fuck off and let me enjoy my dinner"fadein11 - lolz downvoted. person probably didnt even read what you wrote.CygnusZero4
- @ponyboy - yep it looks that way.fadein11
- I fell out of the sky reading all that.detritus
- This is the kind of answer that would get hundreds of upvotes on Redditdjmix
- Oh, I fly all the time, I don't care if it's safe or not. I love travelling, I'm not going to sit around in one city because of a statistic!nb
- I ride a motorbike as my main transportation in the summer. I don't care much about safety. Motorbikes are fun. So is flying.nb
- Flying is NOT fun any more.
Signed,
Someone who flew a lot in the 80sdetritus - People who think flying is fun are people who probably get on a plane just once every 2 years.iCanHazQBN
- I fly almost every month, the "fun" part is being able to jump on a plane & arrive in a new climate or completely different culture the same day. Never gets oldnb
- TL:DRETM