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Showerthoughts_Mod t1_iy973az wrote

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aori_chann t1_iy97ied wrote

That's because people are afraid of dying in the rollercoaster, so they don't go that much there. Also rollercoaster are non-essential objects, while cars kinda are. The numbers we should be thinking about is percentage of the deaths. Could you get us those numbers?

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testingpage2025 OP t1_iy985x1 wrote

Sure! 46000 people in the US die in car accidents on average (according to Google), and 4-5 deaths for rollercoasters. I can’t find percentages unfortunately, but even if only 20% of the US population went on a rollercoaster last year, there are still way more car deaths. You make a good point though, not as many people go on rollercoasters.

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SkyrimWithdrawal t1_iy99ymq wrote

We need to introduce the concept of exposure here. If 1% of vehicle drivers die in accidents when they use those vehicles for 1hr per day, every day for their whole lives, that is still safer than if .01% of rollercoaster riders die, when they ride for a few minutes each time, a few times during their lifetime. It's about risk. If you're exposed to a small risk over a long time, it's still a small risk. You need to control for that by looking at things like # of trips, trip duration, etc.

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mattbackbacon t1_iy9a4n9 wrote

More die on bikes than on trains. More die walking than riding the bus. It’s that sense of being in control, that your life is in your own hands, that makes the car or bike more attractive than the train, bus, or rollercoaster.

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SkyrimWithdrawal t1_iy9aaiu wrote

>even if only 20% of the US population went on a rollercoaster last year, there are still way more car deaths.

This is wrong. Take the amount of time you spent in the car last year, and spend that amount of time on a roller coaster. Now take 20% of the driving public and put them on roller coasters for hours each day, all year long. I think you will surpass that 46,000 mark if you control for exposure.

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SkyrimWithdrawal t1_iy9c3eh wrote

Sure thing. Personal risk calculations are often way out of whack, as demonstrated by the number of people doing crazy shit on this platform. Anything to help people understand the risk of those choices a bit better.

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Environmental_Fig942 t1_iycelpp wrote

At first I was wondering why a roller coaster would run into a car, but then I got it 😝

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