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Although It may be, what's the likelihood of you surving a plane crash vs car crash. I dont know about you but I'd MUCH rather be on the ground in the event of engine or mechanical failure rather than 30,000 feet in the air over the mid atlantic.
Statistically speaking, yes air travel is safer than traveling by car, but what's the survival rate regarding accidents for both modes of transportation?
Although It may be, what's the likelihood of you surving a plane crash vs car crash. I dont know about you but I'd MUCH rather be on the ground in the event of engine or mechanical failure rather than 30,000 feet in the air over the mid atlantic.
Statistically speaking, yes air travel is safer than traveling by car, but what's the survival rate regarding accidents for both modes of transportation?
Agreed! I feel much safer on the ground, regardless of what the statistics say. And I think the statistics might be a little skewed, because they compare travel miles I believe. And jets traveling at 600 MPH obviously travel each mile faster than cars traveling 65 MPH, so naturally, traveling by car exposes you to more drive time than traveling by air. But is that best way to compare air travel to car travel?
I'm not sure why the OP objects to the phrase "air travel is the safest way to travel," and I'm not sure how else he would express the fact that one is much less likely to die in an air crash than in any other type of transportation accident.
I understand that his issue is that, if you actually do experience a crash, your odds of dying in that accident are far greater on a plane than in a car. Of course, it's not quite an apples to apples comparison; car accidents run the gamut from a little tiny scratch in the paint all the way up to multi-vehicle pileups. If you compared similar types of accidents -- "hull loss" aviation accidents vs. car crashes where the vehicle is "totalled" -- I think the fatality-rate gap would narrow some.
Not that the OP's focus is invalid, of course; but I think a better metric to use is the rate of fatalities per unit of occurence (defined however you like -- miles driven vs. miles flown, number of trips by car vs. by plane, etc.) No matter how you slice it, the odds of dying on any given airline flight are so very much smaller than they are in any given car trip.
still far safer than automobile when considering a metric like % of trips based take off versus % of unique trips in a car - and by multipliers safer
Air travel is very safe - now when something goes wrong it really goes wrong but with auto travel thing go wrong a lot more compared to air travel
I'd rather something go wrong when I'm grounded in my car though.
Lets take these 2 scenarios.
1. I'm in my car and I catch a flat. I either pull off and change it myself or call for assistance and have someone else do it.
2. I'm in a plane and upon decending the pilot discovers the landing gear isnt opening up in which case YOU'RE TOTALLY SCREWED!!! Now there are procedures for such a thing but they are very risky which can lead to a crash/explosion/etc upon landing.
Now I'm not against air travel as I travel by air 3-4 times per year. I just dont agree with the entire notion that its the safest form of travel. Statistically there are faaar fewer plane crashes but when a plane does crash it usually comes with everyone on board dying.
And if asked which would I rather be in something went wrong I will choose a car every day of the week. Still doesn't change the facts about chances of dying which are far greater with each auto trip then each take off
catastrophic issues with planes don't have much chance but even crashes like the SFO landing - msot people lived and it appears a few who did were actual part of a auto accident oddly enough (I know an anomly of sorts there) but ironic in this sense
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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Hmm, I personally know of at least a dozen folks who have been killed in a car accident. I know at least twice that many that are still dealing with the injuries they've suffered in the same situation.
In a previous career in the fire service I've also seen quite a few dead folks.
In my entire life, I've known 5 people that were killed in light aircraft accidents and none in commercial aviation. I've also been in an "unscheduled" crash landing in a helicopter. No damage, but a complete change of underwear.
I'm still terrified of driving to and from the airport.
Although It may be, what's the likelihood of you surving a plane crash vs car crash. I dont know about you but I'd MUCH rather be on the ground in the event of engine or mechanical failure rather than 30,000 feet in the air over the mid atlantic.
Statistically speaking, yes air travel is safer than traveling by car, but what's the survival rate regarding accidents for both modes of transportation?
I've travelled on Aeroflot many, many times. Countless times, both internationally, and domestically in Russia. I'm still here. No incidents. Not a hint.
Hmm, I personally know of at least a dozen folks who have been killed in a car accident. I know at least twice that many that are still dealing with the injuries they've suffered in the same situation.
In a previous career in the fire service I've also seen quite a few dead folks.
In my entire life, I've known 5 people that were killed in light aircraft accidents and none in commercial aviation. I've also been in an "unscheduled" crash landing in a helicopter. No damage, but a complete change of underwear.
I'm still terrified of driving to and from the airport.
So in your lifetime you personally knew a total of around 17 people who have died in car/airplane accidents?
Although It may be, what's the likelihood of you surving a plane crash vs car crash. I dont know about you but I'd MUCH rather be on the ground in the event of engine or mechanical failure rather than 30,000 feet in the air over the mid atlantic.
Statistically speaking, yes air travel is safer than traveling by car, but what's the survival rate regarding accidents for both modes of transportation?
It's not just that airline planes are safer than cars, they are VASTLY safer than cars. More than 2,000 times safer than cars on a per mile basis. That means that the drive to the airport is by far the most dangerous part of a 1,000 mile trip on an airline. Or as another analyst put it,
Quote:
“A person who took a 500-mile flight every single day for a year, would have a fatality risk of 1 in 85,000.”
Stop, think... about 35,000 people a year die in auto accidents in the US. That's nearly 100 a day. So by this time of the year, on average, about 23,000 Americans have already died in car crashes, many of them within 15 miles of their home. Now look at how many people have died in airline crashes in the US so far this year... zero!
And what's the probability of surviving a car crash in which you die? Zero!
For some reason many people are TERRIBLE at assessing relative risks, and it seems to be because those people look at situations emotionally, rather than rationally, putting inordinate weight on whatever choice is the most anxiety producing for them personally, rather than picking the choice that is clearly far safer on a factual basis.
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