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While Americans may be concerned with safety in air travel, the real danger, as we all pretty much know but forget regularly, is motor vehicles. Somehow our brains are able to conveniently parse and suppress the fact that our chances of dying behind the wheel (or even just in the passenger seat) of a car are around 1 in 100 — compare that to your 1 in 52.6 million odds of being killed on a single airliner trip.[SButtonZ button="digg"]
So just how does the U.S. compare with the rest of the world when it comes to traffic-related deaths? This amazing infographic offers an impressive amount of information on international motor vehicle deaths, including how traffic fatalities play out among richer and poorer countries. Right now, road accidents are the ninth leading cause of death in the world — by 2030, they’re projected to be the fifth. Still not sold on public transit?
Image: NGHealthCareEurope
Tags: Automobiles, Senseless Death
I am a big fan of phasing out the cars except in rural areas. China upgraded their rail system in just years – they started in 1993, when their average train ran just 48 kilometers an hour today they have amazing Maglev and HSR technology – more than any other country in the world. America is against it because they have never seen it. Japan’s Shinkansen network started running in 1964. Tokyo has such an incredible network of trains that it’s possible to live here for years and never need to get in a car. Which leads me to another observation about Tokyo – clean air. If the US would just get with the infrastructure I might be interested in coming back!