11 Things You're Terrified Of, But Shouldn't Be

[tblue37]

100. True--but in terms of how humans *perceive* risk, the

typical airplane crash seems much less survivable than a typical automobile crash. There are not many airplane feeder-benders, are there?

The reason we are more likely to be killed in an auto crash is that we do a lot more riding around in cars, and so do a lot of other people, so there are a lot more car wrecks, and a lot more fatal car wrecks. It's a matter of sheer numbers. Even if most cars don't crash, the fact that there are a gazillion cars out there means that if even a small percentage of them crash, that is quite a lot of crashes, and quite a lot of those will end up being fatal.

Nowadays, though, airplane crashes in the US and Europe are pretty darned rare. So on top of the fact that we fly so much less than we drive, the rarity of plane crashes means that in absolute numbers, there will be fewer fatalities, even if everyone or nearly everyone on board is likely to die when one of those rare crashes occurs.

Also, Americans are terrible drivers. We get very little real training or practice before being allowed to zoom around at high speeds in a death missile weighing tons. We let impulsive, irresponsible kids zoom around in them, too.

I've heard that in at least some European countries, people must take a much more rigorous test before being issued a driver's license.