4 ms·
People love to say it's about control, but I have no control when I'm a passenger in a car (and have no anxiety there). For me at least, I think it's more about
by elromulous 5y ago
People love to say it's about control, but I have no control when I'm a passenger in a car (and have no anxiety there). For me at least, I think it's more about:
1. A plane can't just "pull over".
2. The number of fatal car crashes out of the number of car crashes, vs the number of fatal aviation accidents out of the number of aviation accidents. I.e. in a car, my brain is reassured that accidents, when they happen, aren't as likely to be fatal.
This of course is illogical, as one ought to be concerned with simply the risk of death per mile, etc. But humans are far from perfect logic machines. I imagine kahneman and tversky have covered exactly this kind of bias at some point.
- krnlpnc 5y agoThat's true, although a car passenger does have the ability to see forwards, warn the driver of a problem, and request to be let out immediately if feeling uncomfortable.
- jgwil2 5y agoIf you're a car passenger and you see danger you can assist the driver in avoiding it. You likely know how to drive and are familiar with the procedures. In a plane you are completely disconnected from those in control, and unless you're a pilot or aviation buff you don't even really know what could go wrong.
- lamontcg 5y ago3. Fear of heights/falling.