The most dangerous form of transport in the world. The safest form of transport is an airplane. Flight safety. Causes of plane crashes. Safety statistics of modes of transport in Russia

The author of this phrase is Dmitry Kuznetsov, captain and pilot of the Airbus A320 aircraft of Rossiya Airlines. He is ready to talk for hours and with great pleasure about the fact that the plane is a very safe form of transport. And he did it in an interesting and convincing way. Did you know, friends, that every system on an airplane is duplicated several times? This means that if one fails, the other will perform the functions of the non-working one. And that the plane is capable of taking off and landing even with one of the two engines under the wings completely out of order? And that the plane undergoes such a meticulous inspection before flight that even small chips and dents on the outer body of the aircraft are noted?



All this, and much more, was learned by a knowledge-hungry company of bloggers as part of the #pulkovotour, organized by the press service of Pulkovo Airport. That day we inspected the plane, looked at the technical base, met the rescuers and saw the new airport terminal from the inside. This post is about inspecting an aircraft using an exampleAirbus A320.

We were all taken through one of the airport checkpoints, dressed in vests with the inscription PRESS and taken to the plane.
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Here he is, a handsome man, he doesn’t fit entirely into the lens :)
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We walked around the plane on all sides. Dmitry is on the right, wearing a cap and a badge.
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From him (and others) we learned that there are two types of aircraft maintenance: operational and technical. Operational maintenance is carried out every time before a flight and can last no more than 50 minutes according to the standard. The captain of the ship is obliged to accept the ship in good condition and he is directly involved in maintenance. Do you see the round stickers with numbers on the plane's body? This is how non-critical metal deformations are marked. One of the captain's tasks is to first walk around the entire plane from the outside and note all new dents in order to mark them with new stickers. During the inspection, it may appear that the captain is stroking the aircraft and talking to it. But it is true, this is a kind of tradition adopted from the older generation of captains.
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One of the aircraft engines. Each blade is marked with a number in order. During operational maintenance, the blades are inspected for dents from stones and birds.
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By the way, about birds. Contrary to popular belief about the danger of birds getting into aircraft engines, in this case nothing will happen to the engine and the flight will proceed as usual. But you definitely won’t envy the bird; the engine blades (sorry for the gory details) will grind the bird into minced meat. Moreover, Dmitry said that aircraft engines are tested at special testing grounds, firing at the working engine... with bird carcasses. Passenger safety really requires bird victims.
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Engine on the side. This is a very complex, powerful and reliable device. And it’s beautiful, as you can see :) You can’t be near a running engine, it’ll suck you in! The minimum safe distance is 6.5 meters. The most serious test for an engine is takeoff mode, when the aircraft begins its takeoff run and lifts off the runway. In this mode, the engines operate at maximum (or close to maximum) power. According to the regulations, pilots are supposed to turn on this mode for no more than 5 minutes. Otherwise, the engine is subjected to increased loads and the likelihood of its failure increases sharply.
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Several similar technological holes and hatches can be seen on the aircraft body. Each of them performs its own function. For example, this one, if I’m not mistaken, serves to intake air for the aircraft’s ventilation system.
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“Antennas” at the ends of the wings serve to remove static electricity from the aircraft body. To the right is one of the strobe lights that allows you to spot the plane in the night sky. Airbuses, unlike Boeings, light up twice in a row with a pause. Boeing's strobes blink in uniform flashes, a little more than once per second.
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Then we moved inside to the aircraft cabin. When will you be able to sit in a business class seat again? :) In the cabin we had the opportunity to ask questions to Ivan Nikitin, the PIC of the Boeing-767 aircraft (unfortunately, he was not included in the shot). I remember there was a question about the most difficult airport for takeoff and landing. He mentioned the Innsbruck airport, landing a plane there is complicated by the local terrain, you have to go around the mountains. Well, he talked a little about the global differences in aircraft produced by Boeing and Airbus.
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For our sake, Dmitry launched the APU (auxiliary power unit) of the aircraft. It serves to supply electricity to aircraft instruments and other consumers, such as lighting and air ventilation. Those who flew on the plane as ordinary passengers heard the work of the APU when they boarded.
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So the cockpit began to look more elegant. To the right of the seat is the handwheel for manual flight direction control (right?)
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Handles and buttons above the head. There are an unimaginable number of them here. I asked the captain, what percentage of the total number of control elements in the cockpit is actually used in normal situations? This greatly puzzled Dmitry, who began to calculate something in his mind. Unfortunately, I did not have time to receive an answer, time was running out.
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Dmitry turns off the instruments and the APU.
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And this is a shot from the tail of the plane. There are refrigerators, water containers, heaters, in general, equipment that is used by stewards and flight attendants.
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Business class seats
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Empty salon
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Returning to the issue of the safety of aircraft as a means of transport: according to the International Air Transport Association, in 2012 there were 29,600,000 flights by aircraft from Western manufacturers (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Bombardier) and only 6 plane crashes, none in Europe. These figures really show that the plane is the safest form of transport. And the most dangerous thing is the car. This makes being afraid of flying seem a little silly. It is much more likely to die from an accident on the roads than in the sky on an airplane.
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An airBaltic plane is landing. By the way, here is another interesting fact that I learned that day. It turns out that the best thing to do is to land the plane roughly so that the plane's landing gear hits the runway hard. This is done so that the aircraft gets good grip on the road as soon as possible. Moreover, the more slippery the surface (for example, after rain), the rougher the plane must be landed. Therefore, the planes of almost all foreign companies land roughly, this is indicated in the flight rules and regulations. But in Russia, following the old, Soviet school of pilots, it is customary to land the plane easily. And this is fraught with loss of traction and the plane rolling off the runway. This type of planting is actively being fought and is gradually being replaced. So think twice before applauding the pilots who landed the plane easily and delicately :)
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And finally, one more interesting fact. The rougher the plane lands, the greater the tire consumption. Have you seen black marks on those places on the runway where planes land? This is rubber from airplane tires that remains on the surface immediately after the airplane touches the ground. So, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft leaves about 2.5 kilograms of rubber on the runway after just one landing!
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Thanks to the captains of Rossiya Airlines for a very interesting story about everything related to airplanes. It was noticeable that they sincerely love their work, airplanes, and the sky. And they managed to pass on some of this love to us. It’s a pity that there was little time for communication, and many interesting questions came to mind only after meeting with them.

An upcoming trip to another city or a trip to the sea makes people think about what type of transport to prefer. And here some will choose the train, believing that it is safer, while others will fly by plane, spending less time traveling. What type of transport is actually considered the safest?

Public opinion

Opinion polls conducted over the past few years tend to show the same results. Of all modes of transport, passengers consider the train to be the safest.

Airplanes are among the most dangerous. Opinions regarding car travel are divided approximately equally. Regarding maritime transport, the public tends to consider it more of a safe method of transportation. But this is only the opinion of passengers who are unlikely to study statistical data on accidents, disasters and deaths associated with them.

What do the statistics say?

If people put airplanes in first place as the most dangerous way to travel, then statistics say quite the opposite. Statistical data is compiled in such a way that the basis is taken as mortality (number of people killed) per 160,000,000 km of distance traveled. So during flights this parameter is only 0.6-0.7 people. Railway transport is given second place in terms of safety - the death rate per 160,000,000 km of track is 0.9 people. The number of deaths in road accidents is 1.6 people. Therefore, we can conclude that the airplane is the safest mode of transport, and road transport is recognized as the most dangerous.

If you still doubt that flying is less dangerous than driving a car, then here are some more facts. In 2014, there were several plane crashes in the world that claimed 884 human lives. And in our country alone, in the first six months of 2014, more than 10,000 people died in car accidents. So which transport will be safer? The answer is still obvious. Therefore, before a trip, you should weigh the pros and cons, giving preference to one or another type of transport. And to get rid of the fear of flying (if anyone has any), here are some aviation facts.

1) An aircraft lands every three seconds around the world.

2) Donkeys kill more people than plane crashes.

3) If the chance of a daily disaster is at least 0.01 percent, then at least 13 planes should crash per day.

4) A plane crash cannot be an accident - it is always a combination of certain factors.

5) Before each flight, the aircraft undergoes a strict inspection and complex technical condition check.

6) Over 80 percent of people on our planet are afraid to fly on airplanes, and 5 percent categorically refuse to do so, preferring trains or ships.

7) A plane cannot fall from a height of 10,000 km, as many fear. There is a lot of pressure under the wings of an airplane, so it floats in the air in the same way as a car on asphalt.

8) Russian pilots do not drink at the controls - this is an invention of those people who are very afraid of flying.

Reading these facts may help reduce aerophobia. However, they are unlikely to be able to help those five percent of people who do not want to board the plane at all under any pretext.

Calculate, what type of transport is the safest, not so simple. To build a beautiful and visual graph, at least two indicators are required - the number of dead or injured, as well as the number of people who use this type of transport. For air, rail and water transport, this data is not difficult to find, because thanks to tickets, every person is taken into account. But there are problems with automobile transport. It is not possible to track the movements of the average Russian from work, to work and to the store - no one registers at the doorstep of their home.

Our transport safety rating according to statistics for 2018 was compiled using various sources - from data from the National Union of Insurers, which keeps statistics of registered insurance cases from 2012 to the present, to data on transport accidents on the Rosstat website.

> 200 deaths per 1.6 billion km

Although the number of accidents involving motorcyclists has decreased by more than 70% since 2005, the motorcycle remains one of the most dangerous forms of transport. According to statistics, it turns out that every 1.6 billion km of travel is paid for with the lives of more than two hundred drivers and their passengers.

A motorcycle, like another two-wheeled vehicle - a bicycle - is characterized by increased vulnerability, so accidents involving motorcyclists are highly likely to end sadly. The reason is non-compliance with traffic rules, and, surprisingly, the fundamental refusal of some drivers to use a helmet.

5.75 people per 1.6 billion km

Personal cars are in second place in terms of the number of road accidents. In just 1.6 billion km of travel, at least 5.75 people die.

The reasons include the reluctance of drivers to comply with traffic rules, the condition of the road surface, the increased wear and tear of the vehicle fleet due to the crisis and the deterioration of the purchasing power of the population. And also (due to the increase in the average age of life) and the aging of drivers. All these factors together serve as a guarantee that road transport in Russia will not be safe for a long time.

9.4 deaths per 1 million passengers

Among air transport, the greatest danger to human life is not international transportation, but intercity transportation. Especially if a person in a helicopter is forced to go to those lands where even the notorious Makar prefers not to send his calves. Perhaps this is what explains such a high number of casualties among helicopter passengers. For every 1 million people, at least 9.4 are injured. You will have to fall from a great height, and, with a high degree of probability, the injuries will be incompatible with life.

5 deaths per 1.5 billion km

Minibus taxis cannot be called the safest type of transport in Russia. According to statistics, every 1.5 billion km of route traveled by a minibus is paid for by five human lives. Among the reasons can be cited both the work of drivers for wear and tear, as well as design flaws of minibuses, the condition of the roads, unwillingness to comply with traffic rules and drunk driving.

2.84 victims per 1 million transported

In 2018, there were several major accidents involving intercity buses, including a tragic incident in the Voronezh region, when two buses collided, five people died and 17 were injured. In general, according to statistics, intercity and international buses are not safe - for every million passengers transported there are accidents At least 2.84 are injured or killed. In total, in 2018, travel on intercity buses caused the death of more than 600 passengers, and more than 13 thousand people were injured.

2.3 accidents per 1 million passengers

This category includes both international ships and domestic river carriers. In total, in 2018, 62 incidents occurred during sea and river travel, which ended tragically for five people. In general, according to NSS statistics, for every million passengers transported, there are 2.3 accidents.

Passengers on sea and river vessels are threatened not only by the elements of water, but also by fire. One of the common causes of transport accidents is a sudden fire on board a ship, usually caused by faulty electrical wiring. This is not surprising, given that Russia's domestic fleet is in poor condition, with almost a third of the vessels celebrating 40 years of service.

Chance of dying: 1:11,000,000

The safest transport in the world, however, in Russia it is not possible to obtain accurate statistics on the number of accidents per number of passengers. Data from the National Society of Insurers, which we relied on when assessing the danger of other modes of transport, are not available for them. The reason is the peculiarities of the insurance system in Russia; Most air transport companies transport their passengers not only within the country, but also abroad. Therefore, they use international insurance policies.

This is why an airplane is the safest mode of transport: according to statistics, The chances of dying in an accident on board an airplane are 1 in 11 million. For comparison, the chances of being struck by lightning while walking in a thunderstorm are 16 times higher!

0.17 accidents per 1 million passengers

This category includes both intercity and international trains, as well as regular commuter trains. In general, for 2018 the statistics for Russian Railways look excellent - for almost the entire year, from January to November, only seven incidents were recorded. Unfortunately, there were some deaths - one person died. In general, there are no more than 0.17 accidents per 1 million passengers.

More and more people prefer to use one of the safest modes of transport, and this cannot be explained by price alone. Indeed, for some destinations the cost of plane and train tickets is almost equal. According to the Russian Railways website, in 2018, long-distance trains carried almost 8% more passengers than last year. And the increase in the number of passengers on electric trains amounted to almost 3%.

0.09 cases per million transported

The trolleybus is in second place in terms of safety among modes of transport in Russia. According to NSS statistics, for every million passengers transported there are only 0.09 accidents. Most of them are banal “stumbled and fell.”

The reasons for the low trauma rate of a trolleybus are very simple - its volume and weight, as well as its low speed. In a collision, for example, with a passenger car, the car will suffer much worse. And the trolleybus passengers will get away with minor bruises.

0.04 victims out of 1,000,000 people

The safest transport according to statistics for 2018 in terms of the ratio of the number of accidents to the number of passengers. In total, out of one million people arriving from point A to point B, no more than 0.04 people are injured. In addition to safety, the tram has many advantages:

• it moves more smoothly than a car or even a trolleybus;
• less noisy;
• completely autonomous from traffic jams (unless, of course, motorists try to drive along the tracks);
• Of all urban transport, it causes the least harm to the environment.

Unfortunately, trams are gradually disappearing from small towns in Russia. The reason is the limited local budget, which simply cannot support a separate line. In just the past twenty years, the number of trams has decreased by more than 35%. Does this mean that the safest form of transport will gradually disappear from the urban landscape?

Vehicles allow us to move around the world quickly and comfortably, but at what cost? Millions of people die in transport every year.

10. Moped and motorcycle

Mopeds and motorcycles rightfully occupy the tenth position in our ranking of the safest modes of transport. For many years in a row, such transport has been considered the most dangerous. Of the total traffic, motorcycles make up only 1%, while 20% of deaths on the roads occur due to this type of transport.

In order to survive, you should remember that you cannot reach a reckless speed of more than 70 km/h. Desperate bravado is not only inappropriate, it can also cost the driver his life. And, if he took a passenger with him... According to statistics, 125 deaths occur for every 1.5 billion km. The mortality rate of drivers of ordinary cars is 28 times less than the mortality rate of motorcycle drivers. These are the modern facts.

From year to year, a bicycle is considered one of the most dangerous types of transport, according to official statistics. This year was no exception, unfortunately. Most often, accidents involving bicycles occur when they collide with cars.

The number of such accidents on the roads is constantly growing. Therefore, cyclists should be as careful as possible. Since teenagers most often die in such accidents, all parents should take this point into account. At 1.5 billion km. According to statistics, there are 35 deaths.

8. Subway

In case of accidents, this type of transport destroys the lives of many people at once. And emergencies in the metro are especially dangerous for citizens. If we talk about Russia, most often the victims are passengers of the Moscow metro.

7. Sea transport

Ferries are not as safe as water transport enthusiasts would like. According to current year statistics, by 1.5 billion km. accounts for 20 deaths. In particular, it should be noted that not every death occurs as a result of a crash.

There have been cases of passengers falling overboard. Water transport is also unsafe!

6. Spaceship

Only 18 of the spacecraft that have been sent into limitless space since the very first flight in 1961 have failed to return. And this is despite an impressive number of vehicles of this type sent into space.

There were 530 ships in total. It is worth considering that people did not die in space itself. Tragedies happened during takeoff or during landing. According to statistics, by 1.5 billion km. accounts for 7 human deaths.

5. Minibus

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for people to die when traveling on this type of transport, often due to the low qualifications of the drivers.

4. Car

Cars used to be considered an incredibly dangerous type of transport. So, how did a car turn out to be one of the safest types of transport in statistics? Everything is very simple.

Cars have been significantly improved in recent years. Thus, the number of accidents has decreased significantly. New statistics show that 1.5 billion km. There are four deaths per car. However, this does not mean that you can safely forget about safety measures or become fans of crazy driving.

3. Bus

For 1 billion km. accounts for 0.5 deaths according to official statistics. This applies to ordinary buses. Therefore, in the ranking of the safest modes of transport, buses took an honorable 3rd place.

In Europe, this type of public transport is among the safest. Things are worse in Egypt, as well as in the Russian Federation. But still, buses are deservedly in third position in the ranking.

However, we should not forget about the terrible incidents associated with this type of transport. It’s worth at least remembering how a bus in the capital was rammed by a truck. And this is not an isolated case!

2. Airplane

But, according to statistics, an airplane cannot be considered one of the safest modes of transport. However, 0.5 deaths occur per 1.5 billion km, if we also take into account small aircraft with helicopters. Commercial ships will always be more dangerous than conventional light aircraft.

However, we should not forget that the worst thing in the case of plane crashes is the fact that almost none of the huge number of passengers manages to escape. And even the crew of an aircraft in plane crashes is often no luckier. It is known that such incidents can never be an accident.

When a plane crash occurs, a combination of certain factors are to blame. However, airplanes are always considered one of the safest types of transport. And statistics confirm this every year. But the most surprising thing is that people are often much more afraid of flying on airplanes than riding motorcycles.

Trains, according to statistics, are considered the safest transport in the world and are in first place on our list. This is especially true for American and European trains; only 0.2 deaths occur per 1.5 billion km. to the share of trains.

If we take only the Russian Federation, the mortality rate in railway transport is 0.7 per 1.5 billion km, which is also not very much.

Every person regularly makes business trips or leisure trips. But when choosing a method of transportation, few people focus specifically on protecting their own lives during the trip. Most focus on speed, comfort and prestige. And in vain, because human life and health should come first. Therefore, we will consider all the possibilities of movement and determine the safest mode of transport.

The safest mode of transport in the world can be determined according to several criteria:

1. by the number of accidents among the total number of flights;
2. by the number of victims from the number of passengers or those who were in the accident zone and became victims;
3. by the number of deaths due to an accident or accident per 160 million kilometers.

The opinion of world statisticians agrees that it is safest to travel by plane. They drew this conclusion from the negligible proportion of accidents in the sky relative to the total number of flights. There are only 0.6 fatalities per 100 million miles. At the same time, about 30 million flights are sent annually, of which about 20 end in disaster. We should not forget that half of these aircraft are cargo, and only 10 are passenger.

It's hard to disagree with the exact mathematics, but the chances of surviving an airliner crash are practically zero. Thus, we can conclude that the probability of getting into a plane crash is not high, but if such a fate occurs, death cannot be avoided. Although there are also exceptions to this rule. Modern advanced technology is designed to cope with an emergency landing on water.

Safety statistics of modes of transport in Russia

As practice shows, domestic studies of a particular country can produce data that differ from international ones. Thus, the safest form of transport in Russia is the train. According to official statistics from the State Statistics Committee for 2017, there were 0 deaths among those traveling on the train, although 1,626 pedestrians were killed by trains. It turns out that movement by rail inside the train does not pose any threat. The same cannot be said about those who enjoy walking along the paths. Such places are most attractive for teenagers.

In addition to deaths due to one’s own negligence, there were also those that followed accidents.

The most common causes of railway accidents:

• derailment of the train;
• neglect of safety precautions;
• train collision;
• collision of moving cars with lost locomotive spare parts.

Unfortunately, not all trains are in good technical condition. Even the painstaking work of engineers cannot compensate for the wear of parts. At the moment, a project has been launched in the Russian Federation aimed at improving the safety of such an industry as railway transport.

Airplane

Unfortunately, the mortality statistics for airplane passengers are not as encouraging as those on the railway. Russia is one of the three so-called leaders in the number of deaths due to aircraft crashes. In addition, this number also includes the USA and Canada. Over a period of 30 years, 307 domestic airliners crashed, killing 7,061 victims on board.

Accidents in the sky never happen due to just one specific reason.

In order to completely lose control of an airplane, a number of circumstances must occur:

• human error;
• external weather conditions;
• equipment failure.

A miscalculation by the dispatcher can cause quite unpredictable consequences, because in the airspace, as on the roads, there are clear routes. Precipitation, fog, and wind are also considered unfavorable for flights. But the most dangerous thing is the malfunction of the airliner. Although engineers anticipate emergency situations and develop backup control systems in this case, the confluence of all three factors is extremely risky.

Bus

Traveling by bus means that a person completely trusts his own life to the driver. If we talk about general accident statistics on roads, which includes all types of ground transport, then it speaks of 194 thousand injured and 17.2 thousand fatalities in 2017. This high number is due to human error and vehicle failure.

Recently, the number of accidents involving passenger buses has increased. Serious incidents occur several times a month, sometimes resulting in death. According to statistics, it is in the summer that such cases become more frequent and decrease closer to winter. About 5 thousand accidents involved buses, killing 290 people and injuring 7,700. In 2016, this figure was slightly lower and totaled 214 deaths. Due to the growing trend of the negative coefficient, the head of the traffic police, Mikhail Chernikov, commented on the situation and promised to take the situation under his own control.

Automobile

In 2013, Russia adopted a program to reduce car accidents by three times. 35 billion rubles were allocated from the budget to carry out the necessary activities. But to date it has not been possible to solve the problem. As of 2017, there were 153 thousand serious road accidents. Because of this, 194.3 thousand people were injured and 17,185 died. Despite such frightening characteristics, they nevertheless decreased slightly compared to 2015 and 2016.

The most common causes of road accidents are:

• drunk driving;
• vehicle malfunction;
• ignorance or failure to comply with traffic rules;
• over speed;
• failure to maintain distance;
• inattentive driving;
• failure to comply with overtaking regulations.

To reduce the number of accidents, every driver must drive responsibly, since not only his own life, but also that of other people depends on it.

Spaceships

It would seem that nothing could be safer than spaceships. They are built from ultra-dense materials and undergo thorough engineering testing, but, alas, the shuttles cannot provide 100% reliability. Accidents on satellites occur periodically and most often they can no longer be repaired. As for the spacecraft themselves, 16 people died throughout the world during the flights, 4 of them Soviet.

The most common causes of disasters were:

• unsuccessful launch or landing;
• destruction of the shuttle in the air upon entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere;
• incorrect calculations;
• technical malfunction.

At the stage of space tourism, it is important to take into account all the aspects and dangers of such travel, but the high cost of the flight is beyond the means of the majority of the population.

Water passenger transport

According to surveys by social organizations, half of people consider water transport dangerous for movement. This opinion is not justified by statistics. Sea and river vessels rank second in terms of safety in Russia. The peculiarity of this type of travel is that the lion's share of passengers die precisely because of the human factor.

Today, ships are equipped with lifeboats, which are sufficient for everyone on the ship. Another characteristic feature of water vessels is high speed. Some passengers do not drown, as many believe, but die from a strong push against an obstacle.

The largest water accident in the Russian Federation in recent years is considered to be the sinking of the ship "Bulgaria" on July 10, 2011. The incident occurred in the Kuibyshev reservoir, Republic of Tatarstan, and resulted in 122 deaths.

Mopeds and motorcycles

The largest share of deaths occurs in road accidents involving mopeds and motorcycles.

This situation is due to minimal protection of passengers from impacts and damage. At best, the racer will be dressed in a special suit and helmet, but they don’t always save the day. Drivers of this particular vehicle are 29 times more likely to get into accidents than, for example, a motorist.

For some, this type of movement is also fun, similar to Russian roulette. But common sense suggests a fairly high probability of dying while driving a bike: for those who travel 24 kilometers daily, this is 1/860. If we consider accidents in one area, then about 6-7 thousand car accidents occur per year, 250-350 people die and 7-9 thousand are seriously injured.

Of course, the rhythm of modern life is impossible without long-distance travel, and there is no way to completely protect yourself from it. But it is possible to follow the basic rules of self-preservation, which greatly increase the chances of salvation and preservation of health in an extreme situation. And for complete peace of mind, you can choose the safest form of transport according to statistics - the train.