Car crash Quote by Daniel Gardner
““The safety gap is so large, in fact, that planes would still be safer than cars even if the threat of terrorism were unimaginably worse than it actually is: An American professor calculated that even if terrorists were hijacking and crashing one passenger jet a week in the United States, a person who took one flight a month for a year would have only a 1-in-135,000 chance of being killed in a hijacking--a trivial risk compared to the annual 1-in-6,000 odds of being killed in a car crash.””
About This Quote
Source Article: The Atlantic, “The Safety Gap,” 2015
Even with extreme terrorism risk, flying remains far safer than driving.
In simple terms: Flying is statistically safer than driving.
Key Takeaway
Choose air travel over driving when possible.
Themes
risk assessment
transportation safety
statistics
Mood
cautious
informative
Type
explanatory
statistical
When to use this quote
- travel planning
- insurance decisions
- public policy debates
- personal safety choices
Key Concepts
probability theory
risk perception
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you overestimate rare dangers?
- How do you evaluate everyday risks?
A Different Perspective
Rare events can skew perception of risk despite low probability.
![“I was right outside the NSA [on 9/11], so I remember the tension on that day. I remember hearing on the radio, 'the plane's hitting,' and I remember thinking my grandfather, who worked for the FBI at the time, was in the Pentagon when the plane hit it...I take the threat of terrorism seriously…” quote by Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e2e/edward-snowden-555_corrupt_i-was-right-outside-the-nsa-on-9-11-so-i_720447.jpg)
![“After years of training [as astronaut], you have great confidence in the technology. When you get in your car, you probably feel safe too, even though thousands of people die in car crashes every year.” quote by Ulrich Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ce2/ulrich-walter-56755_astronaut_after-years-of-training-as-astronaut-you_296482.jpg)