FAA Data Shows Exploding Batteries Are Rare, Small Risk

ericatcw writes "While the US government is intent on adding new rules around the shipment and carrying of Lithium-Ion batteries on passenger and cargo planes, data from its own Federal Aviation Agency show that the risk of being on an airplane where someone — not necessarily you — suffers a minor injury due to a battery is only one in 28 million, reports Computerworld, which analyzed the data (skip to the chart here) using the free Tableau Public data visualization service. Getting killed in a car accident, by contrast, is 4,300 times more likely. Opponents say the rules could raise the cost of shopping online and add hassles for fliers and consumers."

Comments

Precisely

[Kupfernigk]

What's more, this failure to assess risk properly is a bigger waste of tax and income than almost anything else, from the tax dollars going to foreign wars, to the insurance dollars wasted on allowing risky behaviour and vehicles on the roads. I find it quite amazing how "fiscally conservative" people can go all knee-jerk about spending money on near-imaginary threats, simply because some right-wing bloviator gets exercised about it, and then regards the (vastly greater) risk of getting killed on the roads or the streets as just an aspect of civil liberties.