4 ms·
I'd say it's accidents per person/hour. And I've read somewhere that the figures used to be similar for cars and airplanes (though aircraft safety is constantly
by Udik 8y ago
I'd say it's accidents per person/hour. And I've read somewhere that the figures used to be similar for cars and airplanes (though aircraft safety is constantly improving, cars probably less).
- ergocoder 8y agoPer passenger might be off because a passenger doesn't affect the risk. The number of flights vs. the number of trips might be more fair.
- newacct77 8y agoAccidents? Or fatalities? Cars today are certainly safer than cars 50 years ago.
- ummonk 8y agoCars have been improving safety significantly over time as well. However, the fatality rates seem to be significantly better for airlines. https://www.bts.gov/content/fatality-rates-mode https://www.bts.gov/content/fatality-rates-mode For the sake of argument, assume cars travel an average of only 10 mph, and air carriers carry just 50 passengers (low estimates tilt the comparison in favor of cars). That would mean cars had 1.1 fatality for every 10 million hours in 2015. The corresponding figure has been between 0.0 and 0.6 for the last decade, and airlines come out way ahead even after amortizing the 5.8 from 2001 over the following years. And this is with very conservative assumptions. On the other hand if you add in non-occupant deaths, the numbers might work out better for cars, even after using less conservative assumptions, once you amortize the non-occupant deaths from 9/11.