Re:Ways we could make trains safer and smarter
by dTal on Monday May 08, 2017 @05:29PM
(#14295784)
>But rail is a pretty safe way to get around (more so than driving
Understatement of the year. Even in the US the number of deaths per year averages around half a dozen; you're about ten times as likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning.
From a people-safety perspective, encouraging people to use trains by making them convenient will have an overwhelmingly better impact than trying to improve train safety.
Not that they are mutually exclusive. But if you have a million dollars, I bet you save more lives by putting out a TV ad saying "Thinking of driving? Why not take the train?" than by upgrading a stretch of track. Or by using it to bribe popsci.com into not writing articles about trains subheaded with words like "frustrating", "delays", and "accidents".
Understatement of the year. Even in the US the number of deaths per year averages around half a dozen; you're about ten times as likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning.
From a people-safety perspective, encouraging people to use trains by making them convenient will have an overwhelmingly better impact than trying to improve train safety.
Not that they are mutually exclusive. But if you have a million dollars, I bet you save more lives by putting out a TV ad saying "Thinking of driving? Why not take the train?" than by upgrading a stretch of track. Or by using it to bribe popsci.com into not writing articles about trains subheaded with words like "frustrating", "delays", and "accidents".