People feel in control when they are driving. When you feel you have control you are less afraid. Another perception factor is catastrophic versus chronic . Another perception factor is trust versus distrust , which risk experts say may be the most important factor. It's an election year, so the debate on the proper role of the federal government and its programs has heated up.
People forget what happens without government programs.
When they get on an airplane, they don't think about the fact that government employees certified the aircraft, or that government employees approved the airline's training programs, or that government employees oversee how the airline meets its maintenance responsibilities. Of course our lives are regulated. The alternative is dead bodies at the intersections, no fish and no ducks. Part of the reason people distrust government and are afraid to fly is because of what they read in the papers and see on the nightly news, where the public gets much of its information on air travel. Jim McKenna, recently an aviation reporter and now executive director of the Aviation Safety Alliance, reminds us that virtually every reporter comes to the job after covering the police beat or the courts.