Has flying become more dangerous? It seems so. This is what the data says. See what it says!

You’d think flying was more dangerous if you just read the popular conversation, on social media or elsewhere. After all, a spate of high-profile, often fatal airplane crashes have captured international attention in recent weeks.

Some of these accidents, including a mid-air collision over Washington, DC, that killed 67 people, and an airplane going down in Toronto, where no one was killed, have also been caught on video, adding to public angst about flying.

An Associated Press survey conducted after the Toronto incident found that public perception of flying has worsened, though most Americans still feel comfortable doing so.

Traffic accidents kill 1. 19 million people each year and 20 to 50 million are injured (but not killed) in accidents on roads, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). There were 0. 54 passenger deaths on passenger vehicles and 0. 001 passenger deaths on airlines per 100, 000, 000 miles. The passenger vehicle death rate per 100, 000, 000 passenger miles over the past 10 years is 1, 000 times higher than that of scheduled airlines.

Then there is the fact that most aviation accidents that do make the news are catastrophic, which means they are more likely to be fatal. Most aviation accidents don't result in death, but those that do often have 100% fatality rates, meaning nobody on board survives.

The short answer is that more people fly than ever before but there are also fewer accidents and fewer fatalities than ever before.

Besides the fact that pilots are better trained today because of modern simulators, planes today are better built, more reliable, and equipped to deal with emergencies. Weather forecasting and the collection of other analytical data have also improved.