Originally Posted by
aymodeler
One other general thought about safety. Overall, despite all the risks we discuss here, model aviation is still an incredibly safe activity compared to many other hobbies and leisure activities out there. For example, according to Golf Digest, around 40,000 people each year visit the emergency room due to accidents on the golf course (mostly as a result of being struck by flying golf balls or club heads). The only data I can find on UAS related emergency room visits was an article in Science Direct which claimed statistics of 12,870 model airplane and drone related injuries over the period of 2010 to 2017 (under 2,000 per year), the majority being "propeller related" (no specifics given, but I bet we all know someone who got their finger cut up by being careless around a prop). Again, no hard data, but it is a probably a pretty safe bet that being a spectator at a model airplane field is far, far, safer than being a spectator at a golf course. Yet there is no government agency running around regulating golf courses and golf equipment
I am not saying we should be lackadaisical about safety, but I also think we need to keep this in perspective too.
There are other databases out there. When I dug into injury data for work, comparing certain on the job injury rates vs. off duty rates, I discovered there's federal databases out there that exist. Turns out that if you go to the ER in any hospital that accepts federal funds, the staff records an injury code and short text description. I've got the data on a drive somewhere, if I get inspired I may go look for it. I've since forgotten the name of that database, but I guarantee it's still out there somewhere.