“Hang-gliding is safer than horse-riding … to judge by a new survey of sports deaths.”The Times, 12 March 1987

The data:In 1985, 15 people died

in horse-riding accidents, compared to one death from hang-gliding.

• Is the headline reasonable?

• What else might you need to know to make a judgement?

“… riding has now overtaken motorcycling as the biggest cause of rural casualties”The BBC 23 March 2007

The data:In 2007, it was reported that

you could expect a serious motorbike accident every 7000 hours, compared to a serious riding accident every 350 hours.

• Is the headline reasonable?

• What else might you need to know to make a judgement?

• 1 micromort is defined as a 1 in a million chance of dying

• 1 million micromorts is a mort, and means certain death.

• In order to compare risks of different activities, we need a common ‘currency’ or unit or risk.

1 micromort is equivalent to:

• 230 miles in a car• 6000 miles in a train• 3 flights

1 micromort is a 1 in a million chance of dying

• A general anaesthetic in a UK hospital carries a risk of 5 micromorts, on average, equivalent to:• riding a motorcycle 30

miles• riding in a car 1000 miles• going on one scuba-dive• living 4 hours as a heroin

user• or serving 4 hours in the

UK army in Afghanistan

1 micromort is defined as a 1 in a million chance of dying1 million micromorts is a mort, and means certain death.

• UK service personnel are exposed to an average of 33 micromorts per day • equivalent to riding a

motorcycle from London to Manchester

• of course, front-line troops are exposed to considerably greater risks, as this is an average figure.

1 micromort is defined as a 1 in a million chance of dying1 million micromorts is a mort, and means certain death.

• 1 hang-gliding flight is equivalent to 8 micromorts.

• 1 ride on a horse is equivalent to half a micromort.

• 6 miles on a motorcycle is equivalent to 1 micromort.

1 micromort is a 1 in a million chance of dying

What do you think?

Which is most

dangerous?

What do you think?

Which is most

dangerous?

What do you make of these headlines now?