Twice as many people die in car accidents *every day*.

shriramk@mastodon.social

unlambda@hachyderm.io

@shriramk Yeah. I think two factors shape people's perceptions: one is that car accidents tend to kill one or two people at a time, while train and airplane accidents can have high death tolls.

The other is that paradoxically, train and plane accidents being less common mean that they are more newsworthy. No one writes news stores about everyday traffic violence, but rarer forms of accidents can easily become newsworthy.

Finally, not all trains are equally safe. The new Brightline train system in Florida has a pretty appalling safety record: https://www.wlrn.org/killer-train-brightline-death-toll-surpasses-180-but-safeguards-are-still-lacking

But because the Brightline accidents have generally be one by one, they haven't individually gotten all that much news coverage; it's only when looking at the aggregate that you realize how bad it is. I'm not sure how I heard about it originally, but it's definitely received less coverage than high profile collisions like this one, despite being more deadly overall.

dabeaz@mastodon.social

@shriramk Yes, but not all in the same car.

peterludemann@mathstodon.xyz

@dabeaz @shriramk
Because they're everyday, car crashes aren't news. Train and airplane crashes are news because they're so rare. For trains, 1 passenger death per 5-50 billion passenger-kms (China and Japan best, India and US worst) https://pedestrianobservations.com/2011/06/02/comparative-rail-safety/

Also, mist people don't understand statistics.

shriramk@mastodon.social

@unlambda Yes to all that, but also, I think people feel they are in control in the car (even though they're not), but feel a lack of control in a plane or train (even though it's driven by much more expert people).

The Brightline story is very complicated and it's really not clear how much of it can be attributed to Brightline per se. But yes, it's a GREAT example of how train accidents can be (not) reported just like car accidents.

punissuer@universeodon.com

@shriramk #altText4you At least 39 killed in Spain when high-speed trains collide after derailment

dabeaz@mastodon.social · 1/06/02/comparative-rail-safety/

@PeterLudemann @shriramk Instead of crashes, we should really be talking about sharks. Do people even realize how much national news coverage is given to shark attacks (and occasionally coyotes)? Am I the only one who notices?!?

xgebi@hachyderm.io

@shriramk @GreenSkyOverMe May I ask where did you get your number and which country it applies to?

Also may I ask you to not to manipulate data?

Wikipedia states that in 2022 1759 died in Spain in traffic related accidents which is about 5 people per day. 5 ≠ 39

peterludemann@mathstodon.xyz · 1/06/02/comparative-rail-safety/

@dabeaz @shriramk To my surprise, in the US, cars are only 20x more dangerous than trains. Although the US has 3rd world rates of car deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

peterludemann@mathstodon.xyz

@dabeaz @shriramk In my neighborhood, coyotes barely get a mention, Even though the occasional dog or cat goes missing.

Besides the commonness of car crashes, I think people have a misplaced sense of control when driving, whereas sharks are completely out of people's control.

peterludemann@mathstodon.xyz

@dabeaz @shriramk
And last year there were an all-time high of shark "incidents" in California (10)
https://www.surfer.com/news/shark-attacks-record-breaking-high-california
But I don't know how that translates into deaths per billion surfer kilometers.