• maxwells_daemon@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Driving is orders of magnitude more likely to kill you at any second you’re in a car, than flying is at any second you’re in a plane.

    People who are terrified of flying will get in a car and drive like a monkey like it’s no big deal.

    • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 hours ago

      Driving is orders of magnitude more likely to kill you at any second you’re in a car, than flying is at any second you’re in a plane.

      This is an oft-repeated factoid that comes straight from the airlines bending statistics to meet their desires. It’s true that on a per mile basis, planes are safer. But on a per trip basis, cars actually win on safety.

      And this makes some sense once you actually think about it. A car ride is typically going to be a frequent, short distance; An average of like 90% of all driving happens within 5 miles of the person’s home. Whereas air trips are infrequent and cover huge distances. So the accident-per-trip stat is watered down with cars having lots of trips, but the short distances tend to inflate the accident-per-mile number. In contrast, the accident-per-mile stat is watered down with planes covering a lot of miles per trip, but the infrequent nature of the trips means the accident-per-trip number is inflated.

      And airlines conveniently only ever quote the accident-per-mile number when comparing safety statistics, because they have a vested interest in making airplanes seem statistically safer. If anything, seeing this factoid repeated is just a reminder that even math can be intentionally biased to fit a certain agenda.

        • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 hours ago

          My point is that the “planes are safer” stat is, at best, disingenuous. Any single trip is going to be more dangerous in a plane. But people tend to fly less than they drive, so cars are cited as being more dangerous.

          • LeninsOvaries@lemmy.cafe
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            58 minutes ago

            Any single trip is going to be more dangerous in a plane

            So you’re saying driving from London to Shanghai is safer than flying there?

    • AmidFuror@fedia.io
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      11 hours ago

      They should fear neither. Orders of magnitude relative risk to a minute risk is still very little.