Putting the risk from trees falling into perspective.

A neat and easy to understand relative risk came up in Tim Harford’s marvellous Cautionary Tales - The Spreadsheet of Life and Death. Driving for about 400km/250mi has a risk of death of about one in a million (1 micromort). This everyday risk is so low it's one we readily accept.

We know the overall risk of death or serious injury from branches or trees falling each year is less than one in a million (less than 1 micromort).

That means your risk of dying in an car accident on a 400km/250mi round trip to visit friends for the weekend, is higher than being killed by a tree over the whole of a year.

*Micromort = a unit of risk that's a one-in-a-million chance of death. Micromorts are useful unit of measurement that allow us to compare the risk from day-to-day activities.