Taking up Beags's point on the H&S industry, it does seem to be doing untold damage to the general public's perception of risk and probability. While the red-tops headline with stories of children being dragged off into the bushes, - and one accepts that this is a personal tragedy for the immediate family, - several million other kids weren't dragged off that day.
Could it be due to some extent to the abysmal state of teaching of science and maths over the past several decades in the UK? There seems to be an almost total disconnection with reality on the part of many, including those in what passes for government. Just think of Dunblane and of dangerous dogs.
I couldn't agree more regarding the inclusion of aeromodelling on the curriculum. It gets one in touch with cause and effect, that maths is useful, with the fact that one can actually make something that works as intended, and that real tools require real care. Having started my own career in model flying when a Swann Morton scalpel was an unheard of luxury and we used double-sided razor blades, you quickly got the idea that handling things carelessly could hurt.
The standard method of getting to the contents of the lead tube of balsa cement was to bite off the hardened blob on the nozzle, no doubt ingesting a good dose of lead acetate in the process, and my formative years were spent sleeping in my bedroom where I did my model building, in an atmosphere of dope fumes from the evening's activities. Mixing one's own diesel fuel involved going to Boots and buying four ounces of amyl nitrate and a pint of ether, sold without undue signs of seizure from the pharmacist. What's more, we all survived and quite a few progressed to careers in research, the Royal Air Force or as technical professionals.