Driving vs. Flying By the Numbers The overall fatality risk is 0.23% ? you would need to fly every day for more than 10,000 years to be in a fatal plane crash. On the other hand, the chances of dying in a car collision are about 1 in 101, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Statistically, driving is significantly more dangerous than flying, with recent 2026 data indicating that traveling by car is roughly 190 to 200 times riskier than taking a commercial flight. According to the Department of Transportation, the fatality rate for passenger cars is approximately 0.53 to 0.57 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, whereas the rate for scheduled air travel is nearly zero (0.003 deaths per 100 million miles). To put this in perspective, the lifetime odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash are about 1 in 95, while the odds for a plane crash are roughly 1 in 11 million. Most "aviation-related" fatalities actually occur in small private aircraft (general aviation), not commercial airliners. While "fear of flying" is common due to the dramatic nature of accidents, the high-value reality is that the most dangerous part of your journey is almost always the drive to and from the airport.