kinigget's vault

tal9000:

[Image: A textbook graphic titled “Compare the Odds”: “You will be killed in an air crash: 1 in 4,600,000. You will die in a fire: 1 in 40,000. You will die in a car crash: 1 in 125. Below is written “Driving in a car is still the most dangerous way to travel”. Below is “Chapter 1 You are the Driver [page] 9”]

smirkingbenevolence:

sorcyress:

dolphincop:

endofunctor:

twodoorcinemacunt:

This is why I no longer travel by fire.

man ok this is really misleading because most people spend far more time in a plane than in a car, i guess the relevant statistic would be number of deaths due to a transport method divided by number of miles covered by that transport method in a given year or something

i think you’re mixing up “car” and “plane” because unless you have a literal fountain of money in your backyard you probably are going to drive more places than you fly.

Wait, I’m sorry, can we get back to the fact that this textbook is talking about traveling by fi…

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HOLY SHIT! THE ODDS OF DYING IN THE FLOO NETWORK ARE THAT HIGH?! I THOUGHT WIZARDS HAD THIS SHIT MANAGED!

Actually, traveling by bike or walking is the most dangerous way to travel in the U.S. the highest number of fatalities / mile of travel is either bicycle or pedestrian and the other is fairly close. Both have significantly higher fatality rates than ANY form of motorized transit.

Why?

Because most people who drive cars are poor drivers, overly aggressive and refuse to obey the rules of the road with regards to bicyclists and pedestrians.

The last sentence should not be taken as a personal condemnation of any particular driver, it is a condemnation of U.S.’s automobile-centric culture coupled with a number of intersecting reasons that encourage our citizenry to treat others with utter disregard and disdain. Especially others that for one reason or another we have been encouraged to feel superior to. Our culture of valuing individual rights without individual responsibility is ultimately highly lethal to those with less access to or less desire for the trappings of material wealth.

That being said, a significant number of bicyclists also disregard the rules of the road for similar reasons. Bicycles are significantly less lethal weapons than cars or especially trucks.

I always yield to full sized American pickup trucks while riding my bike even when I unquestionably have the right of way, especially if the driver is a white male wearing a hat. Experience has demonstrated to me that the aforementioned demographic does not care about my safety and will often go out of their way to intimidate and or threaten my well being.

Yeah, one of the first things you learn when you start walking places is that people in cars are almost universally utter jerks who think it’s *fucking hilarious* to drive by and startle the crap out of you.

that and everything said above, of course.