Photo: Aerotime
By: Chris Carvlin In light of recent events, a question popped into my head: “What's the safest way to travel?” Well, reader, I will enlighten you with the answers to the unimportant questions that I ask myself. You may even be surprised with the answer (or not, if you already knew.) Statistically, the safest way to travel is by air. According to the National Safety Council’s records dating from 2007 to 2017, there have been only 62 commercial airplane and helicopter deaths. This results in an average mortality rate of less than 0.01% per 100 million passenger miles travelled. That means for every 100 million miles airlines and charters, there is less than a 1 in 10,000 chance that someone will die. 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 were the safest years for air travel, with zero deaths. 2015 and 2017 were the second safest, with only two total deaths, one in each year. The most dangerous way to travel is by car. 234,343 people have died in car crashes in the span of the eleven years from 2007-2017. The statistics show that this averages 21,304 deaths per year, resulting in a mortality rate of 0.51% per 100 million passenger miles. This means that there is a 1 in 200 chance that someone will die on the road. This is considerably more dangerous than flying. However, the statistics get even more interesting. As of 2016, according to Statista, 222 million americans have drivers licenses, and they drive an average of 13,350 miles per year. About 850 million people passed through american airports in 2017, traveling a total of 800 million miles. 2017 had only one domestic aviation death, while 2016 had 23,867 traffic deaths. I don’t know about you, but now a fear of flying seems quite silly after looking at the numbers. I leave you, reader, some food for thought.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
StaffPLearn more about the people behind the stories by clicking the button below. Archives
September 2023
Categories |