People feel better protected in their cars. They're in a private rolling cage with all kinds of safety features and a built-in ability to get away from danger. They can also avoid more dangerous areas, practice defensive driving, and otherwise mitigate their chances of being one of those statistics.

Being confronted by a knife-wielding drug addict on public transit is just a scarier proposition all around even if the numbers suggest it shouldn't be. And it feels random where death in a car doesn't, even though for the victim it often is.