Media Double Standards.

[Trev]

Can you imagine the media reaction had this been a rail crash? As it was, the tragic loss of six lives in one road crash resulted in roughly one and a half minutes of air time on BBC News 24.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/l...re/4711412.stm

Six killed in head-on collision

Five men travelling in the minibus were killed
Six people have been killed and three seriously injured in a pile-up involving two lorries and a minibus near Grantham in Lincolnshire.
Five men in the minibus and a lorry driver died in the head-on collision on the A52 between Sedgebrook and Bottesford at about 0500 GMT.

[Hamish Macbeth]

Road deaths rarely get much airtime nowadays. Unless of course it's a major pile up.

Sign of the times, I'm afraid.

[GWR9600]

Originally Posted by Hamish Macbeth

Road deaths rarely get much airtime nowadays. Unless of course it's a major pile up.

Sign of the times, I'm afraid.

The reason is road crashes are so much more common than rail crashes. I also think a tanker crashing on the railways would also be bigger than one on the roads.

[pavorossi]

I agree with GWR9600. There are fatal road crashes every day, too regular to make the news. So unless it involves someone mildly famous, causes massive disruption or a large loss of live it won't get covered.

[Albula]

Over 3,000 people die every year on British roads! That seems to be an acceptable price to pay for the freedom of the open road.
Here in East Anglia on the hottest day of the year the A14 and M11 have both had lenghy closures due to accidents.

[Albula]

Can any one confirm if I heard correctly on BBC News 24 that 43,000 people die on the roads of the USA anualy!

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by Albula

Can any one confirm if I heard correctly on BBC News 24 that 43,000 people die on the roads of the USA anualy!

You heard it correctly Albula According to Driveandstayalive.com the figure for 2003 was 42,643 across all U.S. States.


John.

[Albula]

Originally Posted by swisstrains

You heard it correctly Albula According to Driveandstayalive.com the figure for 2003 was 42,643 across all U.S. States.


John.

Send in the troops!

[dario]

Browsing thru European Commission literature/statistics on transport, by the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, I found ,among others, these data:
Road Fatalities (dead, within 30 days since accident)
UK 2000 2002 2003: resp. 3580 3581 3658
EU (15 countries) 2000 2002: resp.41009 38604
EU (25 countries) 2000 2002: resp.52489 49719
Railway Accidents (dead)
UK 2000 2002 2003: resp. 20 23 10
EU (15 countries) 2000 2002 2003: resp. 117 121 91
Note: Dead people in railway accidents include suicides,
road accidents are manslaughter of course.
How's this to review double standards?

[Trev]

Originally Posted by dario

How's this to review double standards?

It puts it all into perspective Dario.

I wonder what the reaction would be if, having the evidence that one individual car had defective brakes (for example), the authorities immediately banned all cars of that particular model from the roads until they had all been deemed safe?