OPINION:
I found the following idea in Steven Horwitz’s Friday article thought-provoking: “You are far more likely mile for mile to be killed in an automobile accident than in an airplane” (“The TSA body count,” Commentary).
It doesn’t seem appropriate to me to compare air travel to automobile travel on a mile-for-mile basis. A person can travel 500 miles in a modern jet airplane in an hour. For me to travel 500 miles in an automobile around the metropolitan area, based on my average speed of 28.6 miles per hour (according to my car’s dashboard computer display), would take me approximately 17.5 hours. Therefore, the person flying 500 miles is exposed to possible hazards for only one hour, while to drive 500 miles, I am exposed to possible hazards for 17.5 hours.
Obviously, my chances for an accident are greatly increased simply because of the length of time that I am exposed to the usual road hazards, even though the mileage traveled is identical. It thus seems to me that calculating the statistics based on miles traveled is unfairly weighted toward air travel.
DANIEL P. McKIM
Springfield, Va.
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