A lot of the run- in's with black bears are the result of our environments overlapping. Or, I guess more correctly, humans invading just about everywhere. Black bears are spread across far more of the US than brown bears, and so mingle with people more as a result. As they 'adapt' to our invasion, they start to think of things such as dumpsters as 'their' sources of food and 'defend' them against the humans who go near them. Same thing around towns, even some very remote ones.
Brown bears do not mingle with people or our environments either very much or not at all. Our clashes with them are almost exclusively in their environment; the wild.
The big difference is that it seems most black bears not de- sensitized to humans would just as soon go the other way, or view humans with more curiosity than anything else. Brown bears may go the other way also but more often than black bears, they will actually stalk and attack humans directly and without provocation.
Also, as I live in the northeast, black bears are <relatively> small compared with browns (not found in this area but those found in their native habitats). Not to imply that a 250 lb. black bear is not a menace to humans, but that it is far less of a menace than a 1,200 lb. brown bear. And Kodiak bear seem especially aggressive toward humans. Probably the result of being the apex predictor and living in an area where the animal can dominate virtually everything in its surroundings; this is not true of a black bear where they coexist with elk and especially, moose.
So given a choice to run out of fuel w/in smelling distance of a bear, I would pick a black bear every-time. Not saying it is desirable ("Oh boy, I thought this was going to be a boring walk but here is a black bear to entertain me and provide interest"), just that it is much less undesirable than a brown IMO. You have to remember, I live in a pretty Mary Jane Tinklepants part of the world: there is not much out there that is really dangerous to humans in my neck of the woods, literally. We can walk around / camp in the woods with very little risk of harm; no poisonous snakes (supposed to be rattlesnakes here but no one has ever seen one....), no big, evil animals (two black bear in RI, and one is wearing dentures and uses a cane I think), not even the dreaded black flies of Maine here. So when out on the highway in the middle of Montana, in the middle of the night, I have wondered just what was wandering around those woods and if I would get to meet it if I got disabled, 'cause I think there is some lethal stuff in those woods..... and a brown bear would be way up on my list of things I would rather not find that way.
Brian
These must have all been mis-identified bears. Still, what's up with that one in New Jersey?
It would appear that they're safer south of the northern U.S. border. There were no fatalities in California on the list, probably the bears respecting the California flag. OH, wait that's a Grizzly Bear on the California flag...hmmmm.