"Geez, I already paid for route 284 and Interstate 99. Do I have to pay a separate weekend surcharge for the 1000-feet onramp? I mean, come on!"

OK, not exactly a reaction on people's deaths, but people react to deaths in a more or less similar way whether it's on a government-managed railway or privately operated 747...

The payment system is a completely separate discussion, and not one at all relevant to my point. I disagree with your claim that the reactions are similar. It's my impression that the reactions to the dangers of public road systems is not remotely close to the reactions toward the dangers of private transportation systems, especially when normalized for the scale of the dangers.