Humans are terrible at assessing risk. One of the most sobering examples is the aftermath of September 11th, but
not in the way you’d think.
“An intriguing paper by three Cornell researchers...found that thousands of Americans may have died since the September 11 attacks because they were afraid to fly. We will never know the true risks associated with terrorism; we do know that driving is dangerous. When more Americans opted to drive rather than to fly after 9/11, there were an estimated 344 additional traffic deaths per month in October, November, and December of 2001 (taking into account the average number of fatalities and other factors that typically contribute to road accidents, such as weather). This effect dissipated over time, presumably as the fear of terrorism diminished, but the authors of the study estimate that the September 11 attacks may have caused more than 2,000 driving deaths.” *
Don’t let irrational fears control you.
*Wheelan, Charles. Naked Statistics. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2013. Pages 72-73.
not in the way you’d think.
“An intriguing paper by three Cornell researchers...found that thousands of Americans may have died since the September 11 attacks because they were afraid to fly. We will never know the true risks associated with terrorism; we do know that driving is dangerous. When more Americans opted to drive rather than to fly after 9/11, there were an estimated 344 additional traffic deaths per month in October, November, and December of 2001 (taking into account the average number of fatalities and other factors that typically contribute to road accidents, such as weather). This effect dissipated over time, presumably as the fear of terrorism diminished, but the authors of the study estimate that the September 11 attacks may have caused more than 2,000 driving deaths.” *
Don’t let irrational fears control you.
*Wheelan, Charles. Naked Statistics. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2013. Pages 72-73.