this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
655 points (98.0% liked)

xkcd

8769 readers
109 users here now

A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

xkcd #2940: Modes of Transportation

https://xkcd.com/2940

Explain xkcd #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:A chart that categorizes various modes of transportation based on their practicality and danger level:

Zone of Practicality:

  • Trains
  • Airliners
  • Boats
  • Walking
  • Cars
  • Scooters
  • Bicycles

Zone of Specialty and Recreational Vehicles:

  • Motorcycles
  • Helicopters
  • Light aircraft
  • Go karts
  • Skateboards
  • Rollerblades
  • Skis
  • Unicycles
  • Sleds
  • Bumper cars

?????:

  • Hot air balloons

“Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 40 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Technicalities:

Planes are safer per mile but not per trip. One could argue that if people spent the same amount of time in both then it would be far more fatalities on aircrafts.

Cars are technically the major source of danger for bikes and scooters.

[–] sus@programming.dev 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

also a fun fact, while commercial aviation is very safe, private planes are much more dangerous, being almost as dangerous per mile as a regular car (and you get a lot more miles per hour of travel)

[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That already fits with the chart - "commercial aviation" is "airlines" and "private planes" are "light aircraft".

[–] sus@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago

how did I miss that..

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

private planes are much more dangerous, being almost as dangerous per mile as a regular car

that is because they are operated by semi-competent people who often have less practice then they have in car.

imagine how competent driver you are when you have your fresh license. it is the same with piloting license. and now imagine you are a hobby pilot and can afford to spend in the cockpit 3 hours per month. your skill is not really going to get significantly better. you are probably flying airplane that is at the end of its life, because that is only one you can afford, and there may be no one keeping an eye on you telling you "this is not how we do it, it is risky, dangerous, and you will get someone killed".