Fearful

It seems to me that a lot of people live in fear—and most people fear the wrong things. For instance, many people are afraid to fly, but they get into their cars every day without worrying. And yet, the statistics overwhelmingly show that it's much safer to fly than to drive! Here are a few statistics I found:
1. In the entire history of commercial aviation, fewer than 13,000 people have died in airplane crashes. Three times that many Americans lose their lives in automobile accidents every single year. The average person's probability of dying in an air crash is about 1 in 4 million, or roughly the same as winning the jackpot in a state lottery.
2. Each year in the U.S., 1 out of 6,800 drivers dies in an auto accident. The rate for airline passengers is 1 in 1.6 million. 
3. Statisticaly speaking, if you get into an airplane every day, it would take you 26,000 years before you would be killed in a crash.

Here's another example: Our school system presents an excellent program to help children avoid assault and abduction. Most parents' #1 fear is that their child will be abducted by a stranger. Statistically, this happens so infrequently that the numbers are almost negligible. (In 1999, 115 children were abducted by strangers.) When it does happen, it makes front-page news because it's such an unimaginably horrific crime. But what parents don't worry about enough is molestation by people their kids know, either relatives or neighbors or friends or babysitters or teachers. In 2000, 879,000 children were victims of neglect or abuse. And known perpetrators account for nearly 90% of all sexual molestation of kids. But unless it's a high-profile case, like the Catholic priests' scandal in Boston, no one hears about those incidents.

Or how about people who are afraid to type in their VISA number at Amazon.com's secure site but will hand their credit card to their stoned teenage waitress, who disappears with it in the restaurant's back room for 5 minutes. It's just irrational!

There is no question that there are places with higher crime rates than others, and situations that are more dangerous than others, and activities that are riskier than others, and so on, but I think people would be a lot happier if they could just stop worrying about dangers that are so remote as to be statistically negligible.

Comments

[x e q u a]

Well put.

[Karine]

Amen!

[Kirsty]

Isn't car travel the most dangerous form of 'regular' transport? I think i heard somewhere that train travel is the next safest, after air travel.
Anyway - good point, well made!

[pam]

What I read was that 115 children were "stereotypically kidnapped" in 1999. But another _58,000_ children were abducted by non family members. The definitions are different for law enforcement, but for parents, the distinction probably blurs just a bit.

http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/nismart2_nonfamily.pdf

[Karen]

Yes, I was trying to point out that true "stranger abduction" is relatively rare, but abduction by someone known to the child is rampant. (Family abduction is usually about custody; that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.) Most parents are afraid that a stranger will drive up and steal their child; much more likely is molestation by a neighbor, babysitter, friend, etc.

[Steve]

Yes, it's funny how people will be nervous about flying, but they'll drive to the airport without fastening their seat belts. Nuts, I tell ya.

Michael Crichton's latest book, State of Fear, is based on the premise that many of our fears today are irrational or based on poor data. Interesting reading in light of your post.