Is an airplane safer than a car?

Yes. Statistically, flight is much safer than driving. Plane crashes get more news coverage because, if a jumbo jet crashes, it's a lot of fatalities in one sitting, whereas a car is typically a couple people. But there are a lot more car crashes than plane crashes.

In 2012, there were 34,080 reported deaths by automobile accidents in the US. That same year, there were 475 aviation fatalities worldwide.