Re: Car plows through market, killing 8

[David Gunter]

Perhaps it's the rarity of GA events that make them stand out in peoples
minds. I know of someone who's been keeping active track of the "Car plows
into..." headlines and it is quite amazing how many there have this year
alone. I don't have the number but I know it's in the 2 digits now.


-david

On 7/16/03 4:47 PM, in article , "Aviv
Hod" > wrote:

> Could you imagine what would happen if *car* was replaced by *plane*?
> There would be shouts to shut us down for good. It's amazing how selective
> people's memories are. No one will remember this in a month, but I still
> get people that talk to me about the Tampa bank incident in which no one,
> save for one misguided 15 year old was hurt or killed. sigh.
>

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[C J Campbell]

"David Gunter" > wrote in message
...
| Perhaps it's the rarity of GA events that make them stand out in peoples
| minds. I know of someone who's been keeping active track of the "Car plows
| into..." headlines and it is quite amazing how many there have this year
| alone. I don't have the number but I know it's in the 2 digits now.
|

One of my students is a law enforcement officer. Just yesterday he was
called in to investigate a case where a father deliberately ran over his 14
year old son with a car. The guy was not remorseful at all, either, telling
arriving officers, "I hope I killed the SOB." He didn't, though. The only
thing that kept if off the news was the bigger story from Santa Monica.

Tough raising a 14 year old, though.

[David Gunter]

This was in the L.A. Times today:

"According to scientists and others who study the phenomenon, there have
been as many as 10,000 accidents attributed to unintended acceleration
nationwide since 1985. Weller's apparent mistake, however, was the deadliest
known case, they said."

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-me-pedal18jul18.story



On 7/17/03 8:01 AM, in article , "David
Gunter" > wrote:

> I don't have the number but I know it's in the 2 digits now.

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Replace spam with david in the email address if you really want to send
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[StellaStar]

>"According to scientists and others who study the phenomenon, there have
>been as many as 10,000 accidents attributed to unintended acceleration
>nationwide since 1985.

Memorize that. Include the source, so you're not suspected of promoting an
urban legend. Repeat it every time someone asks if flying isn't dangerous. The
85-year-old man responsible for the market killings would have lost his pilot's
certificate long before this incident.

If you want to be proactive, every time some old or impaired driver squishes
some innocent bystanders, mildly point out that that kind of thing doesn't
happen in aviation.

[Peter Duniho]

"StellaStar" > wrote in message
...
> >"According to scientists and others who study the phenomenon, there have
> >been as many as 10,000 accidents attributed to unintended acceleration
> >nationwide since 1985.
>
> Memorize that. Include the source, so you're not suspected of promoting
an
> urban legend. Repeat it every time someone asks if flying isn't
dangerous.

Of course, the statistic quoted isn't precisely the interesting one. Not
all accidents attributed to unintended acceleration cause fatalities, or
even injuries. On the other hand, there are plenty of accidents that kill
or injure an innocent bystander that are due to reasons other than
unintended acceleration.

I assume by "flying isn't dangerous", you really mean "flying isn't
dangerous to non-participants".

> If you want to be proactive, every time some old or impaired driver
squishes
> some innocent bystanders, mildly point out that that kind of thing doesn't
> happen in aviation.

Maybe point out that "that kind of thing rarely happens in aviation".
Pilots certainly have killed innocent bystanders, and have even done so
recently. However, I'm sure it's true that the relative rate is MUCH higher
for automotive accidents than for aviation accidents. Almost everyone hurt
in an aviation accident is in the accident vehicle, while automotive
accidents hurt bystanders (either in other vehicles, or just standing
around) on a regular basis.

Pete