Indeed, that's some poor use of statistics by the freakonomics guys.
Another example: during the Battle of Britain, 1547 British aircraft were shot down. Of these, the pilot was (I'm guessing) not drunk in 1547 cases. By the same logic, and assuming that one out of every 140 miles was flown drunk, this proves that dogfighting while drunk is infinitely less dangerous than dogfighting while sober.
Another example: during the Battle of Britain, 1547 British aircraft were shot down. Of these, the pilot was (I'm guessing) not drunk in 1547 cases. By the same logic, and assuming that one out of every 140 miles was flown drunk, this proves that dogfighting while drunk is infinitely less dangerous than dogfighting while sober.