xkcd #2940: Modes of Transportation
Title Text:
My bold criticism might anger the hot air balloon people, which would be a real concern if any of them lived along a very narrow line directly upwind of me.
alt-text:
A chart that categorizes various modes of transportation based on their practicality and danger level:
Zone of Practicality:
- Trains
- Airliners
- Boats
- Walking
- Cars
- Scooters
- Bicycles
Zone of Specialty and Recreational Vehicles:
- Motorcycles
- Helicopters
- Light aircraft
- Go karts
- Skateboards
- Rollerblades
- Skis
- Unicycles
- Sleds
- Bumper cars
???:
- Hot air balloons
“Hot air balloons are the optimal mode of transportation, if your optimization algorithm has a sign error.”
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The placement of „Skis“ in this will trigger every Scandinavian I know. Should definitely be in the top left.
Technicalities:
Planes are safer per mile but not per trip. One could argue that if people spent the same amount of time in both then it would be far more fatalities on aircrafts.
Cars are technically the major source of danger for bikes and scooters.
also a fun fact, while commercial aviation is very safe, private planes are much more dangerous, being almost as dangerous per mile as a regular car (and you get a lot more miles per hour of travel)
private planes are much more dangerous, being almost as dangerous per mile as a regular car
that is because they are operated by semi-competent people who often have less practice then they have in car.
imagine how competent driver you are when you have your fresh license. it is the same with piloting license. and now imagine you are a hobby pilot and can afford to spend in the cockpit 3 hours per month. your skill is not really going to get significantly better. you are probably flying airplane that is at the end of its life, because that is only one you can afford, and there may be no one keeping an eye on you telling you “this is not how we do it, it is risky, dangerous, and you will get someone killed”.
That already fits with the chart - “commercial aviation” is “airlines” and “private planes” are “light aircraft”.
I cant believe bicycles and scooters are perceived as more dangerous than cars. They’re slower, offer better visibility, and kill way less people.
Hit a pothole going 25mph in your car. Hit the same pothole going 25mph on your scooter. I’ll come visit you in the hospital after the scooter one and we can talk about how cars are obviously safer.
I ride an electric scooter, all it takes is one crack in the road that I’m less than prepared for and I’m going down hard.
I wonder what kind of scooter most people pictured when reading the comic
That is a good point, mine is the second variety, electric one similar to the ones you see littering any major Urban area waiting to be rented. Although even the largest scooter is still far less safe over a pothole or around a rainy curve than a car, typical accident in the car you mess up the car and get a bruise from the airbag, but a typical scooter accident can be a lot more gnarly.
I think most people in the USA refer to the third item as a moped, which only gives you two categories for scooter. Scooter and electric scooter, and then moped and electric moped.
Less dangerous to others, but more dangerous to the users themselves, I suppose.
Driving a car makes it more likely for your species to go extinct. Infinitely more dangerous than a bicycle.
your beef is with internal combustion engine, not with the car.
Microplastics from heavy vehicles scrubbing away their tires is a bigger issue than tailpipe emissions, which is why tailpipe emissions are the only thing focused on with regards to regulatory standards. Can’t have people thinking BEVs are similar/worse for the environment than a small car.
ok, that’s fair, never thought of that…
Because of cars
The chart needs a third dimension: danger to you, danger to others, and convenience for travel.
I think most normal people can understand the difference intuitively without needing it spelled out.
Not only. I live in Norway, where pedestrians have right of way and drivers are extremely careful. Discounting the risk from cars, there’s still more personal danger to users of scooters as opposed to cars. If you have an accident on a scooter, you’ll get scrapes, bruises, broken bones. As compared to a car, where unless you’ve really screwed up, you’re unlikely to take any injuries at all.
Source: scooter user who HAS broken bones
I just saw a pedestrian get hit by a person on a bike and end up with a concussion. Bicyclists don’t give a fuck about others
Airliners should be below boats for convenience 😂 just because of airport security and bag collection…
Airplane least convenient for travel from bedroom to kitchen
Walking least convenient for travel to Antarctica
Iduno, travelling to Antarctica might be more difficult with skis than walking 😂
Bicycles are only more dangerous than cars because of cars.
Also, only less convenient than cars because of cars
That’s just not true, try getting groceries on your bike
Literally how I always do my grocery shopping.
For a family or only for yourself?
I only live by myself but if you need larger shipping trips, there’s cargo bikes for that.
Didn’t consider that, fair enough I suppose
Someone else put it this way.
Sometimes I walk to work; sometimes I drive my car; other times i ride a bicycle. Whichever option I pick, I hate anyone who isn’t doing the same thing.
That’s not true. When I drive I still hate drivers
A therapist once told me that who you are when you drive is who you really are.
I don’t drive, so I guess I’m a nobody.
That may be the most American thing anyone has ever said!
Also, the same therapist told me that she has a number of alcoholic patients who moved to New York City simply because they knew there was a good 24 hour mass transit system and they wouldn’t have to drive drunk.
This is wildly dependent on infrastructure. Both for the convenience and danger axis.
motorcycles should 100% be in the zone of practicality, especially with modern sleek electric ones.
skateboards should be the bridge between practical and recreational, provided you have sensible infrastructure and short distances they have distinct benefits.
skis and sleds just need snow to make sense
I’m here to say that if there’s snow, skis win on practicality. Almost every winter, there’s at least one day when you will have some people skiing to work in Oslo, a city of 700 000 inhabitants, with a metro system. Because when there’s 10 cm of snow in the streets, skis are the quickest and easiest way to get anywhere.
I think the existence of car drivers increases their danger level massively
Apparently alcohol as well as it is involved in something like 50% of motorcycle fatalities.
it annoys me to no end how motorcycles and mopeds are viewed as dangerous, when every single time you hear about people being hurt on them it’s because they’re fucking idiots who tried to do a backflip infront of a semitruck
Horses are technically more dangerous to ride than motorcycles. It’s just that motorcycles attract a kind of people who like doing backflips in front of a semi truck.
Now I wish I has a hot air balloon for my transportation optimization algorithm.
I’m not sure I agree that unicycles are safer than roller blades. But that’s probably because I am comfortable on roller blades and don’t know how to unicycle, so for me, the opposite is true.
As both an extreme unicyclist & rollerblader, unicycles are actually incredibly safe. More safe than a bicycle. The top speed is very slow comparatively, and if you fall… You fall on your feet. Forwards? Feet. Backwards? Feet. Sideways? Feet. If your feet were strapped into the pedals (like rollerblades…) it would be a deathtrap.
where to put my 3 favorites? hovercraft, monorail and blimp
Those first two are incredibly fit for some niche that is so small that nobody even remembers it exists.
The last one is still more practical than hot air balloons.
Randall is offically carpilled
What about pogo sticks?
Are hot air balloon not like super safe, last accident I think was a guy that made his own DIY hot air balloon but before that it has been relatively safe. I think America has only seen like less than 800 deaths total.
If the comic put in zeppelins…
You’d need to normalize the number to deaths per balloon ride.
Only three people died last year playing Russian Roulette, must be pretty safe! /s
