2 ms·

You'll sometimes see this dismissed almost derisively as, "people think they're in control when they're driving, but lack agency while flying, so that's why the

You'll sometimes see this dismissed almost derisively as, "people think they're in control when they're driving, but lack agency while flying, so that's why they fear the latter more." But that's completely true! Not every driver on the road is at equal risk of a fatal accident. A significant percentage of all fatal accident involve speeding, reckless driving, and/or alcohol consumption, to say nothing of distractions like cell phone usage. So you do have quite a bit of control on the road and exactly none in the air.

stouset 3y ago
Even "safe" drivers who aren't speeding, driving recklessly, or consuming alcohol are at greater risk of death and injury than on any major U.S. air carrier. So you do have control, and can put yourself into a safer cohort of drivers, but the best you can do still falls wildly short of the state of aviation safety.
- floxy 3y ago
  In this age-of-big-data, it seems like you should be able to find data on each traffic fatality for the past ten years. Things like time of day, ages/demographics of drivers, demographics of victims, street address/gps coordinates, make/model of vehicles involved, blood alcohol level of impaired drivers, court determination of responsible party, etc.. Does anyone know where to find this?
slingnow 3y ago
This isn't an argument about control, it's about safety. Control is completely irrelevant to the absolute probability of dying when taking one form of transportation vs another. You may be 100% in control of a scenario where you are highly likely to die, and 0% in control of a situation where you could essentially live until you die of natural causes. In this case, even if you exercise 100% of the control afforded to you by driving a car, you are more likely to die in a car than you are in an airplane.
caskstrength 3y ago
You don't have control over drunk-driver-in-heavy-pickup-truck-who-is-browsing-instagram-while-speeding crushing into you on the road.

stouset 3y ago

Even "safe" drivers who aren't speeding, driving recklessly, or consuming alcohol are at greater risk of death and injury than on any major U.S. air carrier. So you do have control, and can put yourself into a safer cohort of drivers, but the best you can do still falls wildly short of the state of aviation safety.

floxy 3y ago
In this age-of-big-data, it seems like you should be able to find data on each traffic fatality for the past ten years. Things like time of day, ages/demographics of drivers, demographics of victims, street address/gps coordinates, make/model of vehicles involved, blood alcohol level of impaired drivers, court determination of responsible party, etc.. Does anyone know where to find this?

slingnow 3y ago

This isn't an argument about control, it's about safety. Control is completely irrelevant to the absolute probability of dying when taking one form of transportation vs another. You may be 100% in control of a scenario where you are highly likely to die, and 0% in control of a situation where you could essentially live until you die of natural causes. In this case, even if you exercise 100% of the control afforded to you by driving a car, you are more likely to die in a car than you are in an airplane.

caskstrength 3y ago

You don't have control over drunk-driver-in-heavy-pickup-truck-who-is-browsing-instagram-while-speeding crushing into you on the road.