Safety in a car
An amusing article about cycling by Stephanie Flanders in yesterday's Telegraph notes that:Many of us are more nervous getting behind the wheel of a car than on a plane, even though...the risk of death, per hour travelled, on the road or in the air is about the same. But we radically understate the risk in one case and overstate it in the other -- because we like to think the risks are smaller when we are in control
Broadly speaking she must be right (her article then goes on to talk about the same problem afflicting cyclists). But surely the risk of having a fatal (or non-fatal, but I expect it is less pronounced) car accident does depend to a large part on how you drive, which would explain the generally-held view that young men under 25 have disproportionate share of them, and women in their 50s far fewer. However I couldn't (the DoT just categorises 'adults') any figures to back this up.
update: there's this for traffic accidents in the US.
posted by Matthew @ 7/25/2005 07:09:00 AM
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