Cold statistics and public opinion on the safety of a particular type of transport are completely opposite. According to the first, air is considered the safest mode of transport; according to the second, air transport is the most unsafe.
Comparison of statistical data with public opinion on the safety of a particular mode of transport shows a significant difference. Most of the respondents cannot explain exactly why they chose this particular type of transport. Statistics in this sense of the word has the most direct reasons.
Popular opinion
For example, it is better to consider the results of a survey conducted in 2006 by the VTsIOM center. According to the results of the survey, the most unsafe mode of transport was air transport, and the safest was rail. 84% voted for the first, 15% for the second. Water and road transport received mixed assessments. Thus, 44% consider water transport to be dangerous and 39% - safe; 50% consider road transport to be dangerous and 48% to be safe.
Air transport statistics
According to statistical estimates, which were based on the number of victims of plane crashes, aviation turned out to be the safest mode of transport. The second and third places belong to water and rail transport, respectively.
The reason for the appearance of fear in people before flying is the media, which fan the fire from the slightest plane crash. The number of accidents in air transport is much less than in rail transport, but due to their massiveness, the media give them general publicity. According to ICAO estimates, there is only one accident per 1 million departures. Thus, the probability of dying in a plane crash is 1 / 8,000,000. Therefore, it takes a passenger 21,000 years to die.
People are also biased about survival after plane crashes. To debunk it, just look at the results of statistical processing of 568 aircraft crashes that occurred in the United States between 1983 and 2000. The death toll turned out to be 5% of the total. In more serious accidents, such as breaking the plane into parts, hitting the ground, etc., 50% of the passengers were survivors.
Vehicle statistics
The number of accidents does not match the number of air crashes. Statistical processing of accidents on the roads in the Russian Federation in 2009 showed that in 203 603 road accidents, 26 084 people died and 257 034 were injured.
The safest mode of transport
Based on the foregoing, we can confidently say that air transport is the safest on the planet. However, there is another safer transport - space. In the entire history of flights, only 3 spacecraft have crashed.
