Celebrating the Data in Every Day Life
For most of us, our eyes start to gloss over when we hear the term “statistics”. Statistical data can be confusing, meaning they can be misused to distort information. It’s no wonder that many of us are either bored by, or don’t trust statistical data. However, statistics are all around us, and as humans we naturally perform statistical analysis every day. Statistics help us make sense of the world around us; we are constantly calculating the probability of future occurrences based on passed interactions. For example, when we look at a cup of coffee and think “there is a chance that this cup of coffee might be extremely hot, I should be careful” that’s an example of how we use statistics to help us make decisions.
In celebrating World Statistics Day, we thought we would commemorate the role of statistics in our daily lives by providing a few Northeast Maglev related statistics.
102 Hours
The average commuter in the Washington, D.C. area spends 102 hours per year in traffic delays. Assuming that we work 40-hour work weeks, this means we spend over two weeks of productive time just sitting in traffic delays.
50% Less Energy Consumption
Short-haul airline flights – which are less than about 400 miles long – use a lot of fuel and pump lots of carbon into the air. These short flights spend most of their time either ascending or descending, which is also when they use the most fuel. Jet airplanes are most efficient at cruising altitudes, so these short flights are very inefficient. The superconducting maglev uses 50% less energy per passenger than a jet airplane to cover the same distance.
75% in Deep Tunnel
75% of the proposed route between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore with an intermediate stop at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport will be in deep tunnel. Routing the superconducting maglev in deep tunnel means that no private homes will be taken and communities will stay together.
17% of the U.S. population
The Northeast Corridor is home to 17% of the U.S. population and 20% of the U.S. workforce, all on just 2% of the land area of the country. The corridor is home to 51 million people and is only projected to grow in the coming decades. This emphasizes the need to begin building transportation systems for our next generations.
311 mph
The superconducting maglev cruises at 311mph. People often ask, why 311? The train is actually designed to cruise at 500 kilometers per hour – the metric (and much neater) equivalent of 311 miles per hour. The train actually holds a world record top speed of 603 kilometers per hour, or 374 miles per hour.
So, there you have it. Some pretty amazing statistics to help commemorate World Statistics Day and the huge part of our daily lives that rely on data.