Randall Munroe: Modes of Transportation xkcd.com/2940

Modes of Transportation xkcd.com/2940

Title text: "My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me." Alt text: https://explainxkcd.com/2940#Transcript

Might I propose an edit for those of us who live in the US?

Walking is inherently safe. It's all the cars that are dangerous.

Tell that to my ankles ruined by sports as a teen and twenty something… they sprain at the drop of a hat!

“Oh Ho Ho, we are going out for a nice walk on this lovely afternoon? Nope…” *popping sounds out of nowhere*

“Might I propose an edit…” Hey, dude, not cool. Walking is one of the safes— “… for those of us who live in the US?” Oh, dang, oh wow, sorry. I missed that part, I apologize profusely.

You accidentally circled "walking" instead of "cars"

Because it’s the people on foot who tend to die when the two interact

Yes, but the deaths are caused by the huge chunks of metal and plastic careening through the space at high speed. The dangerous thing is the one that causes death or injury, not that which receives it. HTH

Was just coming to propose a similar edit.

You live in LA?

Worse, Florida Saw one video on Youtube list my city in the top 10 for road deaths per capita 😅

I believe it. I have lost multiple people, and others permanently injured, due to accidents involving vehicles, in Florida. I strait up have a ptsd response to shows that use the "hit by car out of nowhere" trope now

I grew up in the UK. US junctions are insane to me, pretty sure it’s safer to jaywalk than cross at a literal pedestrian crossing half the time

I lived across a university in the US for awhile. The only pedestrian that I witnesses getting hit by a car was in a crosswalk… and I was jaywalking. Didn’t fully realize how much it messed with me until I got to class and had to Be Calm™, and just _couldn’t_. (I’m better now.)

LA isn't that bad. Rural parts of California, however...

As a motorcyclist, I…can’t really argue with this

But you CAN split lanes all the time, eventually leading to your horrible injuries

Username checks out

As someone who enjoyed a helicopter mishap, I can't either

I wanted to argue it but yeah

You know what trauma medicine specialists call them, right?

Organ donors?

Donorcycles. Crash victims often have destroyed heads but otherwise undamaged organs. Heart transplant patients kind of depend on them to a degree.

Yes, so I read :(

A lot of common causes of death damage the heart, so encouraging motorcycle riders to become organ donors has a non-trivial impact on the availability of donor hearts.

I do

Good luck. /gen

to my understanding this is part of what makes them cool

Strangely, yes, though I don’t endorse that. There are risks in willing to take in pursuit of the pleasure I get from biking, but that makes neither me nor the activity cool.

Good point. Respect 👍

There's irony in that cars are considered safer than bicycles when the only real danger to bicyclists is... cars.

What Dutchie pedestrian took out a car?!

LOL, now I need to know as well

Wow! Am I correct in assuming that the right column accounts for one-party accidents? If so, that's a tremendously insightful new dimension.

ok counterpoint: according to the website, hotairflight.com, there hasn't been a hot air balloon fatality since 2012 making them one of the safest modes of transportation. its also doesn't put much carbon into the atmosphere (only into the balloons). sounds like we need more hot air balloons.

Hot Air Flight - The Hot Air Balloon Hubhotairflight.com Purchase balloons, find local rides, become a licensed pilot, and learn more about hot air balloons and the industry.

Wow where were all these hot air balloon scientists when I needed them 5 months ago when my hot air ballooning sent my MiL to the hospital (her drivers license was revoked and I was too drunk to drive) and she landed on the helipad safe and sound (but her gallbladder was still infected)??

sounds like she didn't die tho 🤔...

she actually did from an aneurysm she got from not seeing hot air balloons

the last time ‘there hasn’t been a hot air balloon fatality since 2012’ was a true statement was in 2012

what! you mean the INCREDIBLY reputable website, HOTAIRFLIGHT.COM, had INCORRECT information? i'm aghast, shocked, and deeply concerned. I'll have to call all my hot air balloon pals and make sure this gets corrected.

Google AI says that all hot air balloon accidents can be prevented by filling the balloon with Elmer's glue and cat vomit before launch.

”Common materials to make the balloon are cement and depleted uranium.”

I checked the NTSB list & it turns out there have been two fatal ballooning accidents added (only in the US) just since the last time I looked at all the balloon accidents earlier this year Until the end of 2022, commercial balloon pilots didn’t need an FAA med cert like other commercial pilots

There have been 11 fatal balloon crashes in the US investigated by the NTSB occurring 2013-present

I think we need a graph of passenger time vs. fatalities to really show this. But then it’s like 100% outliers for balloons, probably.

Risk is still low, but patterns emerge that show commercial balloon flights could be safer. And balloon flight is not a practical form of transportation - there’s no steering - so the passenger hours aren’t comparable to many other forms of travel.

I was thinking passenger hours might show it as *more* dangerous than it appears because it’s such an esoteric platform. See also: Concorde, space shuttle.

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