Dread risk, September 11, and fatal traffic accidents
Gigerenzer hypothesised that after the attacks of 11 September 2001 Americans avoided the risk of flying and drove instead, which would raise traffic deaths. Using Department of Transportation data for the three months afterwards, he found that the number of people killed on the road while avoiding flying exceeded the total number of passengers killed on the four fatal flights. He concludes that teaching the public about psychological research on dread risks could save lives.
Gigerenzer hypothesised that after the attacks of 11 September 2001 Americans avoided the risk of flying and drove instead, which would raise traffic deaths. Using Department of Transportation data for the three months afterwards, he found that the number of people killed on the road while avoiding flying exceeded the total number of passengers killed on the four fatal flights. He concludes that teaching the public about psychological research on dread risks could save lives.
Written from the abstract, Association for Psychological Science.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Gigerenzer, G. (2004). Dread risk, September 11, and fatal traffic accidents. Psychological Science, 15(4). doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00668.x