plane vs car crashes

[beeinatree]

one thing i learned recently is that there is little difference between a plane and car crash.

i have recently learned of several car crashes that met a bad end, ie (is it appropriate to mention this here? sorry, if it isnt) a fiery end.

in a way, that kind of end could happen almost anywhere, even going on a little trip to the bank or to pick up the dry cleaning.

anyway, the plane and car crash similarities are a revelation to me, because i had no idea car crashes wound up like that. i thought cars just got a little wrecked. and the people hit their heads.

now im afraid of my car, haha.

for some reason, though, it doesnt feel like its the same. maybe i have a fear of heights too.

hope i didnt scare anyone. its just that i just realized this information, which in a way makes me to feel im being unreasonable with my plane fear. if im not scared in my car, what is the difference in a plane? the same end could happen in my car.

i think maybe its definitely true that the media makes such a big deal out of plane crashes so that that kind of situation seems abnormal. but really, so much devastation happens on the roads every day. and not just the kind of thing we imagine, like the little dummies in the test cars moving about. but really tragic ends very similiar to plane crashes.

actually an air marshall told me this. but it didnt register. because i didnt know how car accidents ended. but now i think my eyes are opened a bit more.

also, i thought what captain stark said in his book was such a revelation. more people have died on the roads than in 60 years of aviation. WOW.

it doesnt seem like it, maybe because nobody really reports what is happening?

anyway, just thought id share my big eye opener i guess.

[acuradriveronr3train]

I think that we tend to focus on plane crashes rather than car crashes for a number of reasons:

1. When the big plane crashes with fatalities occur, a lot of people die in one place at one time.

2. I don't know if all car crashes actually end as you say they do. Remember, the category of car crashes generally contains the various fender benders that don't usually result in personal injuries but may result in your insurance premium going up. I work for an auto insurance company, and we get hundreds of claims each week. I'd venture to say that very few of them end up fiery or with fatalities (although we do pay a lot of money for no-fault injury claims).

3. Safety improvements over the years have helped decrease the severity, if not the number, of auto accidents over the years. I'm sure that safety improvements are being made to airplanes, too, but the automobile improvements are more visible to us on a day-to-day basis. Incidentally, the auto-related safety improvements include not only car design but road improvements (although you'd never know it if you spent all your time in Pennsylvania), improved driver training, and crackdowns on scofflaws such as drunk drivers.

I've been rear-ended twice in the past 30 years - 30 years ago from later this month and again in 1989. The second one occurred on a high speed turnpike. I was driving, and I had one passenger. My passenger came out of this with no ill effects. I had whiplash, but I suspect that if I hadn't had the earlier injury, I wouldn't have been hurt at all. I had a brand new car that I found out had been designed to not turn over in a crash. As soon as I had the money from the other driver's insurance company, I bought another one just like it. But for the next year or so, I was a fearful driver, especially on interstates and turnpikes. I saw a therapist about this (and driving to her office required going on the notorious Schuylkill Expressway, known locally as the "Sure Kill"). I am now seeing the same therapist regarding my fear of flying.

[CaptainStark]

The main reason the media jumps on anything aviation related is two-fold:

1. The media has long employed a policy of "If it bleeds, it leads." In other words, if it is gory, it's "Tonight's lead story..." Some air crashes fit that bill. Second, the media has made a lot of money by whipping the fires of mistrust toward aviation and this approach unfortunately continues. Over the past decade, the major networks have done a great job of covering aviation incidents from an informative and reality-based angle. That is good. Many local channels unfortunately will do anything for ratings and go for the really bad angle to stories involving aviation. ("His engine quit and he had to crash land in this field narrowly missing those homes!!!" Reality Check: The guy deadsticked his plane into a farm field and the nosewheel collapsed due to the soft dirt. Damage to plane? Maybe $5000. Damage to guy? Zippo. Barb has done this and got little or no press at all because it was in the sticks. Had it happened near a major city, they'd have been all over her story. And what purpose would that serve?

2. Accidents involving commercial airliners are so very rare. That in itself makes an incident newsworthy. Only lately do the media outlets remind viewers how many people fly every day (with numbers doubling every few years) and yet, accidents have been declining steadily for years.

:ray:

[beeinatree]

The main reason the media jumps on anything aviation related is two-fold:

1. The media has long employed a policy of "If it bleeds, it leads." In other words, if it is gory, it's "Tonight's lead story..." Some air crashes fit that bill. Second, the media has made a lot of money by whipping the fires of mistrust toward aviation and this approach unfortunately continues. Over the past decade, the major networks have done a great job of covering aviation incidents from an informative and reality-based angle. That is good. Many local channels unfortunately will do anything for ratings and go for the really bad angle to stories involving aviation. ("His engine quit and he had to crash land in this field narrowly missing those homes!!!" Reality Check: The guy deadsticked his plane into a farm field and the nosewheel collapsed due to the soft dirt. Damage to plane? Maybe $5000. Damage to guy? Zippo. Barb has done this and got little or no press at all because it was in the sticks. Had it happened near a major city, they'd have been all over her story. And what purpose would that serve?

2. Accidents involving commercial airliners are so very rare. That in itself makes an incident newsworthy. Only lately do the media outlets remind viewers how many people fly every day (with numbers doubling every few years) and yet, accidents have been declining steadily for years.

:ray:

Thank you Captain Ray. Maybe the problem is I watch/read too much news.

I have to keep telling myself how rare it is.

You know, what occurred to me recently was that, all this news coverage, including a recent tragedy with gratuitous photos (which I unfortunately bumped into because they post these things without discimination in news sections on the internet these days) -- all of these terrible things which most people would be better off not hearing about, are reported in the media. And then? The same news reporters get on planes that night, the next morning, and almost everyday. They don't even care themselves about it. Maybe they know how rare it is more than the average person since they fly all the time? They are almost like actors. This occurred to me a couple days ago. It kind of got me mad actually, lol.

[beeinatree]

I think that we tend to focus on plane crashes rather than car crashes for a number of reasons:

1. When the big plane crashes with fatalities occur, a lot of people die in one place at one time.

2. I don't know if all car crashes actually end as you say they do. Remember, the category of car crashes generally contains the various fender benders that don't usually result in personal injuries but may result in your insurance premium going up. I work for an auto insurance company, and we get hundreds of claims each week. I'd venture to say that very few of them end up fiery or with fatalities (although we do pay a lot of money for no-fault injury claims).

3. Safety improvements over the years have helped decrease the severity, if not the number, of auto accidents over the years. I'm sure that safety improvements are being made to airplanes, too, but the automobile improvements are more visible to us on a day-to-day basis. Incidentally, the auto-related safety improvements include not only car design but road improvements (although you'd never know it if you spent all your time in Pennsylvania), improved driver training, and crackdowns on scofflaws such as drunk drivers.

I've been rear-ended twice in the past 30 years - 30 years ago from later this month and again in 1989. The second one occurred on a high speed turnpike. I was driving, and I had one passenger. My passenger came out of this with no ill effects. I had whiplash, but I suspect that if I hadn't had the earlier injury, I wouldn't have been hurt at all. I had a brand new car that I found out had been designed to not turn over in a crash. As soon as I had the money from the other driver's insurance company, I bought another one just like it. But for the next year or so, I was a fearful driver, especially on interstates and turnpikes. I saw a therapist about this (and driving to her office required going on the notorious Schuylkill Expressway, known locally as the "Sure Kill"). I am now seeing the same therapist regarding my fear of flying.

oh no, not all car crashes end up that way. but this year alone, i heard of three, including one in Omaha involving a young couple, down the street from where i am now. there was also one in florida with 10 kids or something. and there was another one, but it escapes my memory right now. ill probably remember it tomorrow... okay no, it didnt happen this year. or maybe it did. but i ran across a photo on the internet. it was an article related to a drunken illegal who hit a family.

basically, the possibility is there. yet, it doesnt feel like it to me. somehow it feels rare to have a fiery car accident, which it is, as you said. its totally rare. but so are plane crashes, right? but i feel scared in the plane, even tho the risk is probably similar or greater in the car. it just feels more dangerous, for me, on a plane. i totally trust my car, maybe because i know how they run. like you, ive been in some car accidents. but they went well for me. i sort of hit something and that was it. i dont know. maybe i was lucky.

thats awful you got smashed into like that. some people should be wiser in their cars. its like, this is not nascar. im sorry that happened to you.

[Falcon]

I disagree with the analogy. A plane crash on average will give you a better chance of survival.

[beeinatree]

I disagree with the analogy. A plane crash on average will give you a better chance of survival.

why do you say that?