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by kkennis 3643 days ago
While flying is certainly safer than driving, that statistic speaks more to the gross volume of cars driven vs. planes flown than anything else.

The perception of danger in planes and self-driving cars is perceived as such due to lack of control. If a plane is about to crash, there's not much to do besides hold and pray. If your car accelerates when it's supposed to brake, you better be paying attention and act fast to avoid a crash. With your hands on the wheel, you're always in a position to act, and it's easier to believe that there's always something you can do to avoid disaster.

1 comments

These statistics are typically deaths per passenger-mile travelled or similarly normalized. Or do you mean that highway traffic is more dangerous because there are more cars in a smaller space?