Two thoughts...
Is it actually true that car accidents are far more rare than harassment on the subway? I don't take public transit enough to comment (there is none here).
Car accidents have a much higher likelihood of maiming or killing me. Even if they're more rare, I would posit (but don't have numbers) that the total cost to society (including property damage) is MUCH higher.
Data point: I've been in two car wrecks. Once as a passenger where the driver spun it on the Mass Pike to 128 ramp, and once when I got T-boned on my way home from having my car serviced. That was my favorite car. Nobody's ever bothered me on public transport. Not on the MBTA, not on MBTA, Metro North, or LIRR commuter rail, not on Amtrak to New York, not on the New York public transit systems.
I've been in two accidents and been in the car where a fight broke out on the red line twice.
And I've been driving a hell of a lot more than the years I rode the subway....
> I've been in two accidents and been in the car where a fight broke out on the red line twice.
Were you an active participant in the fights?
If not, wouldn't the fair comparison be a count of how many car crashes you have driven past?
>Were you an active participant in the fights?
I wasn't an "active participant" in the accidents either. Both were minor rear endings.