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Don't give in to the temptation to write this off as a trite statistic. If the aviation industry never existed and all those miles were done by road, that's mor
by tompccs 2y ago
Don't give in to the temptation to write this off as a trite statistic. If the aviation industry never existed and all those miles were done by road, that's more than 170,000 additional deaths in the US since 2009 [1].
You may argue that not all aviation traffic would convert to road, and I'd agree - so to look at it another way, aviation has created a huge uplift in human potential by enabling more travel than ever with zero (or negative) direct human cost.
[1] https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state#:~:text=Posted%20June%202024.-,Fatal%20crash%20totals,per%20100%20million%20miles%20traveled https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state....
- cenamus 2y agoThose miles would have never been done all on road so that comparison falls really short. People wouldn't drive coast to coast multiple times a year on business trips, just as they do the same with flying. But an analogy with hours travelled via plane/car/train/bus would be interesting
- foxyv 2y agoIf you look at per-trip statistics, trains are six times safer than flying. Per-mile, planes always do much better. Cars just honestly suck for safety, cost, and externalities.