I realized I ADHD rambled in my post. tl;dr: I totally agree
It for sure is a statistical average. Like one in four women in your life have been sexually assaulted (can't remember the exact statistic, but whatever it is, it's bad).
To your point about some people being more affected than others, you are absolutely correct. Adding to this, some people don't realize how many on their own life, like friends and family, have been affected by automotive accidents. Traffic injuries and deaths are so so normalized. Just anecdotally, the more I think about it, the more I remember people who have been injured, myself included. I just thought of a family friend, right now, while typing this, that was killed in a drunk driver hit and run, while she was jogging on a paved bike path in a park. My cousin and his wife were killed on a motorcycle when a truck pulled out in front of them illegally. Another cousin's best friend died in a car accident in high school.
But when I first read the statistic my first thought was "I don't think I know anyone who has died that way." Stunning. I have a relatively high level of empathy and it took a fair amount of introspection to remember those who died. Partly because they weren't immediate family or friends, but rather, once removed. No wonder, as you say, those callous, self-interested bastards don't allow statistics like the OP to move them toward change.