Funny how airplane safety is discussed all the time whereas I see no similar posts for automobile safety.
40,000 people die each year in car accidents in US alone, which is a heck of a lot more than in airplanes. Unlike air safety, individual road safety can be increased by any individual; even the safest dirvers can improve thier chance of survival by expending extra effort.
Yet somehow it's a lot more exciting to worry about things you can't control and hardly know anything about. Humans are fascinating. One day I'll figure out what makes them tick.
> Unlike air safety, individual road safety can be increased by any individual...
I think that's a big part of the reason. I know I'd feel a lot safer (if I was qualified) flying an airplane than having someone else do it. Having a large measure of control over a potentially dangerous situation is reassuring.
The other thing is that airplane crashes are very often catastrophic. A whole lot more people survive car accidents than die in them.
The other thing is that airplane crashes are very often
catastrophic. A whole lot more people survive car
accidents than die in them.
I'm speechless. You think that's something positive? Another way to phrase the same thing: not only cars kill a lot more people than planes, they also multilate and injure even more. Only 4 people died last year in air accident in US (http://www.planecrashinfo.com/2007/2007.htm), which makes it 10,000 more likely to die in a car accident.
You're right in your other point - it seems people don't mind dying so long as they have illusion they could have prevented it. Only when people feel powerless they become afraid.
Stay with us DenisM, the lure of an article/research like this is that we might bale to control (even if only slight;y) something we deemed "out of our" hands previously.
The idea that you can possibly save your own life in a plane crash contradicts what most people believe, which is usually "instant unavoidable death". Unlike ..oh car accidents.
40,000 people die each year in car accidents in US alone, which is a heck of a lot more than in airplanes. Unlike air safety, individual road safety can be increased by any individual; even the safest dirvers can improve thier chance of survival by expending extra effort.
Yet somehow it's a lot more exciting to worry about things you can't control and hardly know anything about. Humans are fascinating. One day I'll figure out what makes them tick.