Temple University mathematics professor used these data to show that most Americans have an exaggerated fear of terrorists [19]:
Without some feel for probability, car accidents appear to be a relatively minor problem of local travel while being killed by terrorists looms as a major risk of international travel. While 28 million Americans traveled abroad in 1985, 39 Americans were killed by terrorists that year, a bad year-1 chance in 700,000. Compare that with the annual rates for other modes of travel within the United States-1 chance in 96,000 of dying in a bicycle crash, 1 chance in 37,000 of drowning, and 1 chance in only 5300 of dying in an automobile accident. How do you suppose the author calculated the probability of dying in a car accident? Do these calculations prove that it is more dangerous to drive to school than to fly to Paris?