Reason 'Hit & Run' blog, 2/1/18:
Virginia Rail Crash Highlights Media, Government's Lopsided Approach to Rail Safety
Spectacular but rare accidents receive the bulk of the attention.
An iron law of safety hysteria is that it is drawn to incredibly rare and spectacular events while ignoring far more common causes of death and injury. Nothing illustrates this better than the media's drastically different treatment of two recent high-profile Amtrak accidents.
On Wednesday, a chartered Amtrak train carrying a large number of Republican congressmen hit a garbage truck in Virginia, killing the driver and seriously injuring the truck's passenger.
The media certainly covered the accident: . . .
SNIP
Try to remember the last highway-railway crossing death that attracted a ton of national media coverage without a trainful of Republican legislators being involved.
The misplaced media focus has been matched by a misplaced policy focus. . . .
SNIP
The more common a type of accident is, the more the press and the politicians shrug it off as just a matter of course. The more unusual or shocking an accident, the more airtime and federal dollars are spent puzzling about how to make sure it never happens again.