What about space travel? I can only think of three accidents but with the number of times we’ve been to the moon and into space that’s got to be a pretty good record.
Hey they didn’t ask for the form of transportation that lots of people take now did they?
On a worldwide basis, you would have to think that the daily walking done by people has to be pretty safe. There’s over 6 billion people in the world and 99% of them walk every day I think.
Not exactly a injurous or life-threatening, but my co-worker was trapped in an elevator for about an hour this morning.
Of course, I’ve basically resigned myself to the fact that at least once a week I’ll be nearly maimed or trapped in the elevators in this building… I think they’re possessed.
Now, if only I didn’t work on the 15th floor…
Going to space is safe? uh-uh. Any mode of transportation that kills 5% of its users isn’t very safe.
21 people have died in space or while directly attempting to get into space, plus another 142 or more that died on the ground while working on getting people into space - accidents along the lines of rocket explosions and fueling mishaps. cite
434 people have been in space so far and are listed here.
Other stuff:
Zambonis are tools, rather than transportation.
I have heard of at least one person being killed by an elevator - it was an old freight lift and they slipped off the platform and were mashed as the platform approached and passed the ceiling on the way up with them hanging over the edge.
The pipeline stats are strange since those things carry gas or oil (mostly) rather than people. Were people riding through the pipes as if at a water park? I dug a little into the stats, and found in 2000, 12 people died in/on/near natural gas pipelines because of internal corrosion.
That space buggie we left on the moon.
your grandma’s old rocking chair - it brings you to and fro without any real danger at all…
gotpasswords, I was going off of deaths per mile, something that I only remembered off the top of my head. Still, with all the miles it takes to get to the moon etc it has been safe per mile but maybe not per trip.
Actually, there has been no deaths on the Apollo V moon rockets so you could claim it to be the safest.
Then again, there are other vehicles which has yet to kill anyone. For example, according to AirSafe.com, the Boeing 777 and the Airbus 340 haven’t been involved in any fatal accidents so far. Nor have the TGV and Japanese bullet trains, as I mentioned above.
A couple of frightening, random anecdotes:
I recall an incident in NYC about ten years ago - guy was decapitated by an elevator. It got stuck, he tried to squeeze through the doors, and then it got tragically unstuck.
In Washington’s Metro system, several people have been severely injured or killed on esclators when shoelaces or hood ties became entangled in machinery. More here: stopped. Oh, here’s a nice authoritative-looking study for comfy reading: Deaths and Injuries Involving Elevators or Escalators (warning, it’s a PDF), from something called the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights.