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Posted by calamity on January 2, 2008 at 5:25:19 pm EST
In reply to Re: What's in Your Survival Kit? posted by Fred on January 2, 2008 at 1:25:59 pm EST

Ocassionally, one reads newspaper articles that use actuarial and polling data to juxtapose wide discrepancies between perceived and actual risk regarding various aspects of living.

Commercial airline travel is often mentioned, as well as crime, various sports, etc. I remember being surprised by the claim that horseback riding is far more dangerous, on average, than motorcycle riding.

The data is broadly valid, but often can't be applied directly to individual situations. For example, passengers of a commercial jet piloted by terrorist, can't use averages that apply to a random ticket for a random destination. Many, hopefully less absurd examples are conceivable (mebbe depends on the horse?).

The point is not at all to minimize death or risk, but merely to see it in the proper, actual context.

Twenty or thirty thousand rescues of the 40 million annual backcountry users suggests that, while stuff does indeed happen, hiking just ain't very dangerous.

I wonder how many of those rescues were avoidable with contents of a survival kit, or my odds & ends bag... Some, I'm sure...As to how many involved crazy horses, ATVs, crashed parachutists..drunken snowmobilers... just don't know...

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• Re: What's in Your Survival Kit? - BigSmoke 18:05:39 01/02/2008
  • Re: What's in Your Survival Kit? - calamity 18:58:02 01/02/2008

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