It’s “very risky” in that it kills or fucks people up one in a million times. This is roughly 10x more dangerous than the average car trip in the USA, so, quite dangerous.
As TPOG is basically a scathing social commentary of the global west, the fact that something as low risk as driving to and from work for five days in a row was regarded as so dangerous as to only be undertaken in life or death necessity was not lost on me. Cars are insanity.