Comments on: The equivalent of 3 Boing 747 crashes every week http://wordlair.com/?p=82 In search of answers - please help! Fri, 09 Sep 2011 05:31:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: TM http://wordlair.com/?p=82#comment-6 TM Mon, 05 Sep 2011 06:04:42 +0000 http://wordlair.com/?p=82#comment-6 Hi Herbjorn - thanks Actually there's a truckload of stats - with all manners of metrics used. I have included some of them as links at the bottom of the post (above). However, I wouldn't want to get too involved in the discussion of which metric makes the most sense. Or speaks the cleanest "truth" ... What I wonder, regardless of what is safest, is why it is we seem to develop a certain emotional numbness when deaths arrive in a small stream rather than one "large" punch. The adjective in quotes to indicate (as per the post) that, actually, the small streams of deadly accidents on our roads every day, add up to a whole lot more than all plane crashes combined. To me it's not about arguing over deaths/passenger-mile or /vehicle-mile or any of the several other metrics. It's about our acceptance about the most common mode of transport being inherently dangerous. Apart from airbags and crash absorption zones, shouldn't it be possible - in the 21st century - to advance matters beyond "what can be done to save the occupants now that disaster <i>is definitely</i> inevitable"? Hi Herbjorn – thanks
Actually there’s a truckload of stats – with all manners of metrics used. I have included some of them as links at the bottom of the post (above).
However, I wouldn’t want to get too involved in the discussion of which metric makes the most sense. Or speaks the cleanest “truth” … What I wonder, regardless of what is safest, is why it is we seem to develop a certain emotional numbness when deaths arrive in a small stream rather than one “large” punch. The adjective in quotes to indicate (as per the post) that, actually, the small streams of deadly accidents on our roads every day, add up to a whole lot more than all plane crashes combined.
To me it’s not about arguing over deaths/passenger-mile or /vehicle-mile or any of the several other metrics. It’s about our acceptance about the most common mode of transport being inherently dangerous.
Apart from airbags and crash absorption zones, shouldn’t it be possible – in the 21st century – to advance matters beyond “what can be done to save the occupants now that disaster is definitely inevitable”?

]]> By: Herbjorn http://wordlair.com/?p=82#comment-3 Herbjorn Sun, 04 Sep 2011 07:09:17 +0000 http://wordlair.com/?p=82#comment-3 Great article! I've often pondered on why fear of flying seems to be so widespread compared with fear of driving a car. Maybe because most of us drive cars more often than we fly? That thought leads me to think that if we drive cars much more than we fly that could explain why we see so many more deaths by cars? I think your article would benefit from discussing this too. Is there any statistic available that can answer this question? Great article!

I’ve often pondered on why fear of flying seems to be so widespread compared with fear of driving a car. Maybe because most of us drive cars more often than we fly? That thought leads me to think that if we drive cars much more than we fly that could explain why we see so many more deaths by cars?

I think your article would benefit from discussing this too. Is there any statistic available that can answer this question?

]]> By: Nis http://wordlair.com/?p=82#comment-2 Nis Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:05:44 +0000 http://wordlair.com/?p=82#comment-2 And this is just about cars versus airplanes. Try to look at the odds of dying if your means of transportation is a motorcycle or scooter......probably 15 times higher on a per passenger mile basis. That would qualify as a death-wish. And this is just about cars versus airplanes. Try to look at the odds of dying if your means of transportation is a motorcycle or scooter……probably 15 times higher on a per passenger mile basis. That would qualify as a death-wish.

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