Have the Boeing crashes shaken our faith in flying? | Gwyn Topham

It’s still the safest form of transport. Perhaps that’s why honest public conversations about risk are so rare

Transport bosses need little prodding in public to utter the words “safety is our number one priority” – a mantra so widespread that, as with an English person inquiring “How do you do?” the inherent insincerity is barely noted.

Clearly, the main objective of rail companies, airlines or carmakers is moving people or things, for profit, with all the risk that entails. What those industries have excelled at is vastly reducing that risk. In Britain, more than 11 years have elapsed since a passenger was killed in a train crash. Fatality rates in car accidents are declining, particularly for drivers; yesterday the European commission announced that extra safety features, including automatic speed limiters, would soon be mandatory.

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