"It's no riskier than driving a car"

[skysprite 0]

That was a quote from a balloon pilot today after there was a fatality at Balloon Fiesta. A balloon snagged a fiber-optic line running above a power line, so the pilot threw down a tether so they could be reeled down and freed. The tether broke, the balloon flew back up which caused the gondola to tip, and one passenger fell to her death.

One article details some fatalities over the years, then says,

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... Balloonists, however, say such fatalities are rare and that their sport is not particularly dangerous.

"It's no riskier than driving a car," said pilot Anthony Haynes of Houston. "It's a sad thing when it happens. But when you see a car accident, you don't stop driving." ...

Naturally this caught my eye because skydivers say jumping is safer than driving a car too. (generalization)

How do you feel about that? Is "it's no riskier than driving a car" the new catchall analogy for "risky" sports? Will every sport that wants to downplay the risk factor be compared to driving now? How is skydiving being compared to driving different from ballooning being compared to driving? Is either a fair comparison? Is the risk factor for ballooning the same for skydiving the same for _____ risky sport the same for driving, etc.? Is "it's no riskier than driving a car" the new "it tastes like chicken?"

~skysprite

[happythoughts 0]

The only people who say that are people who have ridden in a car with me driving.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

I know far more dead skydivers than I do people who have died in car accidents and I have only been skydiving a little over 5 years while I have been driving for about 24 years.

BSBD ... and my condolences go out to the Snohomish crew this evening.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Kiki32 1]

Broke my hand in a skydiving accident and got into a bad car accident in the span of 5 days. So Im not sure what my views are. Theyre both dangerous.

Poetry don't work on whores.

[popsjumper 2]

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...above a power line, so the pilot threw down a tether so they could be reeled down and freed.

Huh?????
Power lines...tethers?

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[DougH 270]

My guess is they had them turned off...

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[beowulf 1]

I think it's a load of shit that people say to try and minimize the risks and try to make skydiving look safe to non skydivers or themselves. I think it is a dangerous saying that can lead to complacency.

[Baksteen 84]

Maybe.

But it can also be used to counter the knee jerk "you must have a deathwish" reaction.

Skydiving isn't safe, but (far) less dangerous than the public on average seems to think. People tend to be amazed when I tell them that you can actually control your movements in freefall - some have trouble enough believing that you can steer a parachute, and slow down before landing.

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[beowulf 1]

I can think of better things to say then "it's safer then driving". You are better off describing the number of jumps made with out any injuries or deaths and even getting them out to a dropzone and watch everyone landing. Saying that it's safer then driving a car is an attempt at trivializing the danger involved in skydiving. There are many more participants in driving a car then there are skydiving so they don't compare very well.

[turtlespeed 212]

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The only people who say that are people who have ridden in a car with me driving.

Evidently Swedishcelt as well.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[The111 1]

I have been saying for a long time, that whether or not that is true, it still has merit because it brings attention to two important facts:

1) Skydiving is much less dangerous than the general public thinks.

2) Driving is much more dangerous than the general public thinks.

I'd rather the general public start paying attention to #2, than to #1. I could care less if they deem my skydiving sane, but I wish they would start driving better around here.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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You are better off describing the number of jumps made with out any injuries or deaths and even getting them out to a dropzone and watch everyone landing.

-Depends on who they are watching land.

I tripped on the only 'for demonstration purposes' jump I ever did for a family. It wasn't scary looking and of course I jumped back up onto my feet with just a bit of mud on one knee, but still...I'd never want people watching an Acme landing to demonstrate safety. I'd estimate $750 spent on medical needs after my landings. -Better than some, but not pretty.

No worries though. I don't jump any more. My aircraft landings were better, but I don't do that any more, either.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[Bolas 5]

What's the saying?
"Risk factors don't just add up they multiply"?

So Driving a car, skydiving, no AAD, swooping, drinking 1-2 afterwards, driving home, while tired.

Yikes.

Risk vs. reward.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[Amazon 7]

You were always fun to watch land.....very entertaining

[turtlespeed 212]

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You are better off describing the number of jumps made with out any injuries or deaths and even getting them out to a dropzone and watch everyone landing.

-Depends on who they are watching land.

I tripped on the only 'for demonstration purposes' jump I ever did for a family. It wasn't scary looking and of course I jumped back up onto my feet with just a bit of mud on one knee, but still...I'd never want people watching an Acme landing to demonstrate safety. I'd estimate $750 spent on medical needs after my landings. -Better than some, but not pretty.

No worries though. I don't jump any more. My aircraft landings were better, but I don't do that any more, either.

Didn't Joe ask me to take your footage and make a Saftey and Training short out of it?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[HeadCone 0]

Comparing the safety of things to driving is pretty common. Here are the top 10 results from googling "safer than driving a car" (with the quotes):

The airline industry likes to point out that, despite some passengers' apprehension, flying in an airliner is actually safer than driving a car.

And if she attends 100 orgies in her lifetime, the odds of getting AIDS is 0.001%, which is 1000X safer than driving a car.

Riding a motorcycle is safer than driving a car because riders see more, evade better, are more attentive, and assume less.

Based on accidents per hour of driving, riding a bike is safer than driving a car.

So whenever I tell someone that climbing is safer than driving a car they look at me like a weirdo.

Flying a light aircraft will soon be as easy - and safer than - driving a car, according to aviation experts.

It all combines into a recipe for disaster, in spite of the long-held belief that flying is safer than driving in a car.

...

Data on safety when it comes to the small air taxi industry and small planes in general is yet to be measured, but there is a trend: even though commercial air travel in general is four times safer than driving a car, the small personal plane and/or charter plane presents an accident rate that is 7 times higher than driving a car.

LAPD: ORANGE LINE SAFER THAN DRIVING A CAR

...

A day after the Metro Orange Line suffered its seventh collision - a minor crash caused by a motorist running a red light - the LAPD said Wednesday that the busway is safer than driving on San Fernando Valley streets.

Besides, travelling by buses is safer than driving A CAR.

Mile for mile, riding a bus is more than 10 times safer than driving a car.

I don't think some of those people know wtf they're talking about.

--Head

--
Turn off the internet! Join Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety!

http://www.citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org/

[JohnMitchell 14]

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I know far more dead skydivers than I do people who have died in car accidents and I have only been skydiving a little over 5 years while I have been driving for about 24 years.

Ditto. Also, most life insurance either excludes skydiving or charges extra. They don't do that for driving a car. The most dangerous thing in skydiving is to forget you can get killed on any jump.

[JohnMitchell 14]

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Riding a motorcycle is safer than driving a car because riders see more, evade better, are more attentive, and assume less.

I'm throwing the BS flag on that one.

[pirana 0]

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I have been saying for a long time, that whether or not that is true, it still has merit because it brings attention to two important facts:

1) Skydiving is much less dangerous than the general public thinks.

2) Driving is much more dangerous than the general public thinks.

I'd rather the general public start paying attention to #2, than to #1. I could care less if they deem my skydiving sane, but I wish they would start driving better around here.

And what is your read, or perception, on how dangerous the general public thinks driving is?

The biggest problem with making these comparisons is agreeing on the units of measure. Will it be deaths per number of days spent skydiving versus deaths per number of days spent driving? Or deaths per number of skydives to deaths per number of vehicle trips? Or deaths per minutes in freefall versus deaths per minutes in a moving vehivcle?

Play around with those enough and you could make either activity seem benign or deadly dangerous compared to the other.

I heartily agree with your closing statements. Most (90% ?) people are way too casual in their driving habits. Or to put it bluntly, most people are pretty shitty drivers.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[Amazon 7]

Ditto... I kept having 4 wheelers trying to run over me.. after totaling my second bike( a really sweet Triumph Trident) due to some asshole that ran me off the road I gave it up before I REALLLY got hurt badly.

I gave up on riding donorcycles .. I figured I liked my organs were in places that I wanted them to stay...

[HeadCone 0]

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Riding a motorcycle is safer than driving a car because riders see more, evade better, are more attentive, and assume less.

I'm throwing the BS flag on that one.

Yep. Me too.

I didn't mean to present the list as statements of fact. They're just Google results and I generally didn't go past the results page. It's funny/odd what some people think is safer than driving a car.

--Head

--
Turn off the internet! Join Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety!

http://www.citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org/

[skydivermom 0]

I'm still a low-timer, and have been very confused in the short two-year time span I've spent jumping. I guess statistically, more people die every year in car accidents than skydiving, but as someone pointed out, there are a LOT more folks driving on a daily basis than skydiving. If there were as many people jumping as driving, it would probably change.

In both driving and skydiving (and other things as well), we do have a certain degree of control over our safety. We can chose to not drive/jump in certain conditions, not drive/jump recklessly, etc., etc. I will not swoop, jump wingsuits, or go on large formation jumps, or jump in high winds. And I recently refused to go on a jump where everyone was getting out at 3K.

I do not believe for a moment that this guarantees I will never have an accident or even die while skydiving. But it probably makes it less likely. I could say the same thing for driving.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I don't have a lot of jumps or a lot of time in the sport, but I do accept the risks and possibilities every time I go up in an airplane.


BTW, I'm actually more nervous about the first couple thousand feet of the plane ride than the jumping.

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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You are better off describing the number of jumps made with out any injuries or deaths and even getting them out to a dropzone and watch everyone landing.

-Depends on who they are watching land.

I tripped on the only 'for demonstration purposes' jump I ever did for a family. It wasn't scary looking and of course I jumped back up onto my feet with just a bit of mud on one knee, but still...I'd never want people watching an Acme landing to demonstrate safety. I'd estimate $750 spent on medical needs after my landings. -Better than some, but not pretty.

No worries though. I don't jump any more. My aircraft landings were better, but I don't do that any more, either.

Didn't Joe ask me to take your footage and make a Saftey and Training short out of it?

Yes, yes he did...

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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You were always fun to watch land.....very entertaining

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[Amazon 7]

Then again your Pink Mafia jump was priceless for entertainment purposes... especially after Barbie was passed and it was time to "play " a little....










Thanks for some good memories Jaye.. I need those today really really bad.