> The infrastructural insurance spent to prevent lives lost in air travel appears to be much higher than lives on road travel. Could it be that the insurance is for the aircraft, not the lives?

I would be surprised if the cost of equipment and training pilots and whatelse was not factored in.

But the major driver might be that you have to pay for more expensive insurance to get regular people to strap themselves into something going many miles per hour many feet above the ground. Not because it's inherently less safe (though I would argue it is) but because the prospect is scarier!