The American Pundit

This time on the safety of air travel, which is actually the safest mode of transportation available in today’s world. Apparently, in its attempt to push even more government regulations on the airline industry, the administration is working on scaring everyone into thinking air travel has become terribly dangerous.

[W]hen LaHood berated me for suggesting that flying in a commercial airplane was a safe mode of transportation, I knew he was perfect for a Cabinet position.

In his best Illinois tough-guy form, LaHood was in the middle of grandstanding about the need for new regulations covering airlines and pilots, who, despite those imposing uniforms, according to LaHood, display the accountability of a pro athlete. And if airlines did not voluntarily hand over this personal information, Ray LaHood would make them do it.

When I asked LaHood if there was an outbreak of gruesome airline calamities that had somehow escaped my attention, he suggested I ask the relatives of those who died in a recent commuter jet accident about safety. Americans, he declared, were demanding more regulation. And he ended with a sarcastic quip, “I’m happy you feel safe.”

Oh, I do. Why wouldn’t I? There wasn’t a single U.S. airline passenger death due to an accident in 2007 and 2008, years in which commercial airliners carried 1.5 billion passengers. If you are a skateboarder, skier, pedestrian or train rider, your chances of dying are far higher.

Perhaps Secretary LaHood should actually review the fatality rate involved in traveling by airliner. Or maybe he already has and is just lying through his teeth. I stand a higher chance of getting killed while driving along I-95 on any given day than never seeing my family again due to a flight on Delta. But don’t let that stop the administration’s fear mongering strategy intended to scare the public into supporting even more government regulation.

Exit Question: What has the government done as of late to indicate that I should feel safer if its regulating an industry? How did that governmental regulation of the financial sector work out for the country? And yet the solution offered time after time by Democrats is more of the same.