Fear of flying.
Fear of flying is a relatively common fear. I get it. You’re not in control. You’re speeding along in a metal tube thousands of feet in the air, wondering how the heck these things fly without falling out of the sky. Yet, it has been said that the risk of dying in a plane crash is 1 in 11 million. There are roughly 100,000 commercial airline flights a day amounting to over 35 million a year. Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Transportation Safety Board between 2015 and 2020 revealed the odds of a plane crash were .000001%. You have a 1 in 816,545,929 chance of dying in a plane crash. (The odds of winning the Powerball Jackpot are 1 in 292,200,000.)
Fear of sharks.
People also have a fear of sharks. I get that too. You can’t see below the surface and therein lies the fear of the unknown. The thought of razor-sharp teeth digging into your limb and then being pulled under and eaten is enough to make a lot of people enjoy the beach but not the surf. And Shark Week plays to our primal fear. Yet shark bites, at the Jersey Shore at least, are less than 1 a year. There were no recorded bites in 2021. The odds of being bitten are 1 in 11.5 million and the odds of dying from a shark attack are 1 in 375 million. The last fatality from a shark attack in New Jersey occurred in 1926.
Justified fear of driving.
Yet we mindlessly and fearlessly get into our cars and enter the roadways with millions of other mindless fearless drivers without a second thought to the dangers. Consider the following:
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a car accident occurs every 13 minutes in the United States.
- On average, there are over 6 million passenger car accidents each year in the United States.
- The average person will likely crash their car 3-4 times in a lifetime.
- Over 50% of car accidents happen within 5 miles of your home.
- If you talk on the phone while driving, you increase your chances of getting into a car accident by 400%.
- Car accidents are the leading cause of death in children under the age of 15 in the U.S.
- On average, 1 pedestrian dies from a car crash every 88 minutes in the U.S.
Indisputable numbers
Reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimate that 36 percent of all crashes happen at intersections. Approximately 1,000 injury crashes occur daily at signalized intersections across the U.S. T-bone accidents and rear-end accidents account for the vast majority of intersection accidents. A 2015 report from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) breaks down the number of accidents at intersections controlled by traffic signals. In 2015, there were almost 6,600 crashes of this type throughout various municipalities in New Jersey. Seven of these intersection accidents resulted in fatalities.
Green means GO, but not necessarily SAFE.
I am amazed and saddened at the number of patients who have been in a T-bone type accident at a signalized intersection who were the first in line at a green light. When the light turned green, they proceeded and got struck by a driver running the red light. The incidence of running red lights is on the rise at an alarming rate. If there is one thing I would stress people do to educate young drivers, it would be to implore them to look both ways and make sure the intersection is safe when the light turns green.
As Peter Attia, MD stated in his 2020 newsletter, “assume that there is at least one person on the road at all times who is trying to kill you. Whether you are a driver, pedestrian, or cyclist, be vigilant in watching out for him (or them). Maybe he’ll be swerving across lanes on a bidirectional 2-lane road. Maybe he’ll come at you running a red light. Maybe he’ll just be following too closely on the interstate, pressuring you into driving unsafely and causing an accident yourself. His tactics are many, and he can be anywhere”.
If you know someone who was in a plane crash or attacked by a shark…chances are I can’t offer them much help. But if you have a client who has been involved in a motor vehicle accident, then by all means, just call our office and we’ll take care of them.
