I've been on many helicopters, and I've only been in one crash, but that one crash -- with, fortunately, no injuries because when or more one of the many things that has to happen to keep a helicopter in the air stopped happening, it had just taken off, wasn't very far up, and hadn't developed any forward speed/momentum -- was more than enough for me to realize that they're just not really very safe.
Are there situations where a helicopter makes more sense than ground or fixed-wing aircraft transportation?
Sure. Military applications and "air ambulance" services come to mind.
Getting from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to attend the Super Bowl doesn't. It's a four-hour drive in a car, or a one-hour-and-15-minute commercial flight.
While it's statistically safer to travel by helicopter than by car in terms of deaths per hour traveled, think at the margin: If you get in a serious accident by helicopter or by car, which one are you more likely to surive with minor injuries versus getting killed or severely injured?
If I ever get on a helicopter again, it will be for some specific purpose that a car, bus, train, or airplane won't fulfill. I'm not saying it has to be a life or death situation, but it has to be something I really want to do and can only do by helicopter. Maybe that's just because I don't find helicopters that exciting now, having spent many hours in the air on them, maybe not, but either way that's my position.
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