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> I wouldn't say it's simply cost-benefit analysis. It's also scale of accidents.

But that is cost/benefit analysis. When any accident can kill hundreds and do millions to billions in damage besides (to say nothing of the image damage to both the sector and the specific brand), the benefit of trying to prevent every accident is significant, so acceptable costs are commensurate.



I think it goes beyond what you'd expect just from the increased scale putting more lives at risk. Compare our regulatory system for buses and cars, two transportation options that are probably as close as possible to differing only in scale. Buses are ~65x less deadly than cars, and yet we still respond to the occasional shocking bus accident by trying to make them safer.

Which is actually counterproductive! This makes it harder to compete as a bus service, bus lines shut down, and more people drive. I wrote more about this at https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-buses-dangerous and https://www.jefftk.com/p/in-light-of-crashes-we-should-not-m...




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