A perfect post Art!

As to "why the greater loss is so often and so easily accepted as just the way it is." I think that is a combination of factors; I expect we all know someone who has been killed in a traffic 'accident' and, to a certain extent, traffic accidents are regarded as 'normal' due to the frequency of occurrence. The press sensationalise 'national events' that in reality only impact a very small number of people and generally ignore the ongoing carnage on our roads, through lifestyle choices, etc because people would get bored of hearing/seeing the same stories about heart attack, cancer, falls, suicide and vehicle collisions, and it does not sell advertising space/papers.

I believe the root cause of this 'head in the sand mentality' that pretty much everyone of us is guilty of when it comes to considering day to day risks is a combination of familiarity breeding contempt, e.g. I drive the same road everyday, it is familiar, therefore my brain decides it is a 'safe' environment and the fact the humans are particularly poor at taking a detached, probability based, view of risk in general.

As you say Art, the chance of being caught up in such an event is astronomically small. However the chances of winding up dead another, far more statistically likely, way may well not receive the appropriate level of our attention and therefore we do not take the appropriate preventative measures.

OIMO