Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
Anthony Montgomery <amontgom@ha*.ed*> wrote: > ... Now, I'm not sure, but I don't remember about hearing of this >many separate deaths so close together locally. ... By their very nature, random events don't occur at regular intervals. A few years ago, we had three unrelated diver deaths the same summer in Kingston, Ontario, despite having none at all in the area most years. A lot of people really got their britches in a knot, the inquests got a lot of publicity, and the media followed its usual standards. One wreck got a "killer" reputation because two of the fatalities happened there, despite being no different from a safety viewpoint than the dozen nearest other wrecks. It's certainly necessary to examine the facts and determine that the accidents were in fact unrelated (if for example all of the victims had gotten their tanks filled the same day from the same compressor, I'd want to see an air test), but that's something that has to be done by quiet investigation and not by the media. This sort of thing happens in other fields too. A particular aircraft type will get a "killer" reputation because of a statistical knot and a sudden group of accidents (witness recent US Navy experience with the F-14). Let's hope recent events in Hawaii aren't repeated and that the people who assume that all statistical anomalies must be significant go back to their horoscopes. -- Anthony DeBoer http://www.onramp.ca/~adb/ adb@he*.re*.or* (here) adb@ge*.co* (work) #include "std.disclaimer"
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]