TSA may be indirectly causing 1000's of deaths
 

"three professors at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., produced a study in 2005 showing that 242 driving fatalities a month could be attributed to travelers switching from flying to driving in the years immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack"

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content...or-safety.html

I know I'm driving whenever possible. I won't take a regional flight - too much hassle and wasted time. But I keep an eye out for tewwowists on I-95!^

And who says they switched to driving because of TSA? It's just as likely that they chose to drive instead because of the attacks themselves.

I've been on vac & a little time away at the beach. Guess what I drove. There is no way to win with the idiots at the airport:td:

If you'd do some reading both here and on other internet sites, you will see that many have chosen to drive due directly to the TSA, not because they are afraid of being a victim of a terrorist attack.

When one fly's that one becomes the victim of the TSA:td:

Yep.

It would be better if you linked to the document itself, not an editorial that mentions the study.

And there are some problems: the study was published in 2005. Annual air travel did not reach pre-9/11 numbers until 2007. Right after 9/11 (before the creation of TSA, btw), air travel numbers crashed. Each year they have risen, until last year when they fell - and which was most likely the result of a terrible economy. But even now, enplanement numbers are slowly climbing up.

So yes, by the time this study was published, air travel was down. So what? To blame it on TSA is the desperate reach of people who don't like TSA. Besides last year, each year since TSAs creation air travel is up. And after last year, it is rising again.

The article linked above also points out that even if what TSA does is security theater, it could make people feel safe and if so more people will fly. And we have seen more people fly almost every year since TSAs creation. You can't argue with annual enplanement numbers, sorry.

But I will not be so foolish as to claim that TSA has resulted in more people flying. Nor should any of you be so foolish as to claim TSA is to blame for any deaths as the results of auto accidents. Let's stay in the bounds of reality, or at least make an effort to do so...

Travel went down after 9/11 because that event shocked some people to the core; travel rose year after year after that because people became less fearful and the shock wore off. Average travel numbers has little or nothing to do with TSA.

But isn't it fun to try to spin it to make it so? ;)

I know for a fact that people refuse to fly because of TSA & I'm not just speaking of me. I have lots of friends who will fly only if driving makes no sense.

Thank you TSA:td::td:

I'm not the slightest bit concerned that I might be the victim of a terrorist attack on a commercial aircraft. The odds are nearly non-existent. I'm more likely to be killed in an accident, murdered, die of some disease, or drown. Who knows? :eek:

Frankly I am tired of the stupid fear mongering, probably driven by people who have a financial interest. :td:

And I do believe you. Yet, except for last year, each year since 9/11 air travel is up, even after TSA was created.

Again, it wouod be nice to be able to read the actual study, not an editorial that simply mentions the document. But if we choose to believe this from the editorial, why nit the part where it claims that "security theater" can save lives by making people feel more safe to travel, so that more people fly - which actually has happened - and if more fly, less deaths from auto accidents. Why believe one part of the article but not the other?

It would be helpful to know what years the study looked at to come to their conclusions. If it was 2002 to 2004 (most likely because the study was published in 2005) then TSA could hardly be blamed, as many travellers then were relatively - I said relatively, guys!! - ok with TSA.

As much as I'd love to blame TSA for anything ...
 

Unless they established a causal relationship between TSA & the 252 monthly casualties, this is a classic case of post hoc fallacy.

This page tells us that after air travel has actually dropped after peaking in 2007:

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1

The SKY is falling the Sky is falling!

Whats next, global warming?

You make a good point regarding the fact that even if it is "security theater" which only accomplishes to make someone feel safer, then more ppl will fly. But I also know ppl who have greatly reduced flying due to the hassle of security. I myself have canceled 2 trips just this year because I didn't want to deal with the TSA. Lucky for me i only "need" to fly 1 more time in the next couple of months. Very interesting article.

Yes, and they are now climbing.

However, the study mentioned was published in 2005. And travel was up each year from 9/11 to when that study was published.

Air travel crashed after 9/11, and TSA wasn't around, so you can't blame TSA for that. Yet when TSA was established air travel began to rise until the year the study was published.

It would be one thing if during the time period that study was conducted air travel declined year after year, but that isn't what happened.