Myth: Flying is the safest form of transport
01/01/07 00:00 Filed in: Science
Is flying really the safest form of
transport?
Myth
Statistically speaking, flying is the safest form of transport.
Reality
Now, don't get me wrong. Flying is very safe. But is it the safest, as is often claimed?
Statistics on the subject are based upon the number of deaths per year per transport. On the face of it, air travel does appear to be relatively safer than other options.
In 2004 - 347 died worldwide due to air traffic accidents while in the UK alone 3,221 died due to road accidents. Which on the face of it makes air travel at least ten times safer (not even taking in account all the other road deaths in the world).
However, as things work out its never so simple. For example, the number of UK flights in the same period numbered 3.5 million while car journeys can be estimated to be in the region of 22 billion. So the reality is that car travel is actually safer per journey than air travel, and by some margin.
Killed in an airline flight - 0.0001369863013698630136986301369863%
Killed by car - 0.00000001826484018264840182648401826484%
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