| Re: BBC News - This Always Happens |
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Group: uk.transport · Group Profile
Author: onlymeonlyme Date: Aug 23, 2008 11:21
> Remember, the most dangerous part of your flight is the drive to and
> from the airport.
>
> On a train or aircraft you're statistically about 15 times safer then
> when you're in a car.
>
> Road safety is an oxymoron there's hardly any safety culture on the
> roads compared to the airline or rail industries.
>
It's quite an interesting question actually...Is flying safer than driving?
I see where you are going with the post....but it does pose some problems.
Statistics can be a very skewed way of measuring events, when the playing
field is so unlevel....
Clearly you are far more likely to die in a fatal car crash than in a plane
crash.
But what if.....
Say for the sake of plucking a number out of thin air...say there are 1000
planes operating in the uk
How safe would driving be if there were only 1000 cars on our roads?
OK, so planes might carry 50 times? the number of passengers that a car can
carry..
But even so....how safe would driving still be if there were only 50,000
cars on the roads?
How about if each of these (for the sake of this example - 4 x 50,000 =
200,000) passengers only took to the roads approx once or twice a year?
In addition, your plane may well be being maintained by less than reliable
machanics in some God-awfull third world country.
Your life really is in their hands....
In your car....you are responsible for your own safety - and would hopefully
take the car off the road in the event of any machanical problems
manifesting themselves.
You surely wouldn't turn a blind eye....in the interest of a deadline of a
fast journet turnaround.
And if, after all this, you did suffer a crash in your car....statistically,
you'd most likely survive.
In a plane, you most likely wouldn't.
Pound for pound, I would have to suggest that (at least on a level playing
field) driving is the much safer option.
But as I said, the playing field is anything but level.
So the question really is....do you feel safer being in charge of your own
safety....or trusting it to others?
With the current pressures on air-traffic control.....the presssures of
ecomony...tendering out to the lowest bidders etc etc...I personally would
feel safer in my car than on any plane.
Statistically, the drive to the airport may well be the most dangerous
part.....but that would be cold comfort as you hurtle 10,000 feet to your
certain death!
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