I think historical statistics are useless in determining whether or not the next flight you make will be safer than making the same trip by car, no matter how you crunch them.
All I do know is that it's obvious to me that, for example, when I fly to Charleston from Columbia SC for the day next weekend, that it will be a helluva lot safer than driving. This judgement is based on experience, not statistics. The drivers on I26, especially about 25 miles from Charleston, average 20 over the limit. Lord knows how many have been/are drinking, and/or playing with their 'devices' while driving, and/or driving aggressively and carelessly. Then think about all the varying levels of drivers' experience, and competancy. (You better hope my mom isn't out there somewhere!!) Consider the vehicles alone. How many need new tires, brakes, etc.? How many owners don't even know you need to change the oil? (And if you run out of gas or have an engine failure, no, you don't always just pull over. You cause a pile-up.)
Compare the scene on the ground to being a thousands of feet above it all, flying safely, proficientlly, and legally, in a legally maintained airplane, making a beeline for your destination, no one for miles around you but other very safety conscience, intellegent, professional (or at least striving to be), highly capable (anyone who can land an airplane has a certain high level of motor skills, a high apptitude, and excellent hand-eye coordination), drug and alcohol free (it would be extremely rare if they were not) drivers.
Does it really take all that number crunching of already obsolete statistical numbers to figure out which is safer?
