Death from Terrorism and Stranger Abduction Unlikely
With the news dramatizing the risks of death posed by Al Qaeda, stranger child abductions, sex offenders, and street crime, this may come as a shock. Our biggest risks of death are not those overblown dramatic ones. No, the residents of the United States of America die mainly from diseases and preventable accidents. The same is true when the focus is specifically children.
Here are some statistics to mull:
In the year 2006, the child population of the United States was 73, 644,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Total involuntary abductions for children under 18 in 2006 were 6,170. Go ahead and do the math. Divide 6,170 by 73,644,000. The odds are astronomical...that any given child will not be abducted by a stranger.
The leading non-natural cause of death for children is motor vehicle crashes. This is something much more easily addressed than that stranger lurking in the woods, yet do we worry about letting our children get into other people's cars? No, instead many people do stupid things every day like chat on the cell phone while driving or read a map or look into the back seat when the car is moving forward.
Consider these statistics on child mortality from the year 2003:
The leading cause of death for persons ages 0-19 (population 81, 216 385) was natural causes. Natural causes accounted for 36,384 deaths out of a total of 53,539, or 67%.
Motor vehicle crashes were the second most frequent cause of death, responsible for 7677 deaths in that age group, or 14%.
Homicides collectively caused 3001 deaths in this age group, or 6%. This figure includes all the homicides from gang activities and street crimes as well as the deaths resulting from stranger abductions.
It seems we should be worrying a lot more about funding disease research and driving responsibly than about strangers in the park.
And what about the risk of terrorism? Ever since 9/11, our media and the government have fixated on Al Qaeda and the threat it and similar groups pose to our safety. The government and media suggest that terrorism is the primary threat to our safety, with terrorists lurking in our airports, our government buildings, our schools and maybe even our backyards.
Using statistics collected by government agencies, Ryan Singel, writing for Wired, analyzed data from 1995-2005 to assess the risks of dying from terrorism versus other causes.
Where does terrorism fit? Below the risk of dying from flu, hernia, or electrocution. We are actually more likely to be shot by our own law enforcement officials than killed by terrorists! Here are some of the interesting statistics published by Wired on the fifth anniversary of 9/11:
Deaths from...
Driving off the road: 254,419
Falling: 146,542
Accidental poisoning: 140,327
Flu: 19,415
Hernia: 16,742
Accidental gunshot: 8,536
Electrocution: 5,171
Shot by law enforcement: 3,949
Terrorism: 3,147
Carbon monoxide: 1,554
Many Americans don't even own a carbon monoxide detector yet they are half as likely to die from carbon monoxide poisoning as from terrorism. And not particularly likely to die from either one.
Sources: htttp://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/09/18/police-are-more-likely-to-kill-you-than-al-qaeda/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Fnews%2Ftechnology%2F0%2C71743-0.html%3Ftw%3Dwn_index_29&frame=true, National MCH Center for Child Death Review data, National Center for Health Statistics data
Published by Carol Bengle Gilbert - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
2010 Yahoo! Outstanding Contributor of the Year, Carol has consistently been designated a Top 100 Yahoo! Contributor Network writer. She received a 2008 People's Media Award for "Best Article." Carol’s pr... View profile
- Car Crashes Lead to an Increase in Jaw PainThe next time you're in a car accident, you might want to have your jaw checked by a doctor. A recent study concluded that if a person experiences whiplash during a car accident, they have an increased risk of having...
- Buying a New Car: Research Safety FirstChoosing a car that is safe for yourself, your passengers, and other drivers should be more important than the look of a car or the status recogition.
- Top Ways to Survive Car Accidents that are not Your FaultI was just in a car accident last week, caused by a drunk driver. I learned alot about what to prepare for before you ever have a wreck!
- The Art of Being Killed: Riding a Bike Vs. Driving a Car People look to consumer reports on safety for all things from their air-bag, GPS equipped SUVs to their kids carseats. Consumer safety reports aside, it appears that getting into a car everyday is the one thing most...
- Sleep Apnea Causes Car AccidentsPeople with sleep apnea, a rather common sleep disorder, are twice as likely to be in an accident and are three to five times as likely to be injured in a car crash, a new study finds.
- Child Abduction: How to Keep Your Child Safe
- Child Predators: Abduction Tactics
- Stranger Danger: Teaching Abduction Safety to Children
- Child Abduction - Are Anyone's Kids Safe?
- Grindhouse: Sex, Violence and Car Crashes
- Eight Celebrities that Died in Car Crashes
- How to Recover Emotionally Following a Car Crash
- The leading non-natural cause of death for children is motor vehicle crashes.
- Death from flu, hernia, or electrocution is more likely than death from terrorism.
- We are more likely to be shot by our own law enforcement officials than killed by terrorists.
27 Comments
Post a CommentAh, but nothing sells to the crowd like fear-mongering and rilin' up the crusaders. The need to repair roads and yes, bridges, isn't nearly as romantic to the "true believer" as the need to make war and spread empire.
wow you make some interesting points. I think a lot of people fail to think of terrorism in relation to the other kinds of deaths out there, especially children fatalities. what a reality check. good writing.
Someone may have mentioned this already, but Michael Crichton wrote a book called State of Fear, you may be interested.
Wow, that flu number seems really high.
Here's another issue of priorities to consider: As evidence of how rare plane crashes are, how opften have you heard you heard of a celebrity dying in an airplane crash other than a private plane or private charter? And they travel all the time on the airlines. But when we get a plane crash it's wall-to-wall CNN coverage (along with high speed chases on Southern California highways), while the highway fatalities go virtually unreported.
Common sense, huh? Ever since "911" I have felt terrorized~by the US government.
The risks of terrorism may well be real, but fighting it based on past history probably isn't practical. We always assume that the bad guys will act in the same way; so we hassle folks going on airplanes. Terrorism is a real threat but we cannot fight it by getting distracted into wars (eg Iraq). Better we save our energies to help those countries who really want to act against terrorists -- Indonesia, etc. Then we need to increase the size of our military, fund adequately and, maybe, institute a draft. The whole country needs to be involved, not just the comparative few who are serving overseas. Some months ago, I wrote an article on the need for universal sacrifice. The most frightening thing is that I heard Bill O'Reilly say much the same thing last week. Now that's really scary.
very interesting and informative article!
Great article. This should be passed on to those who leave their children unbuckled and wandering about the van or car. But, it should be passed on to parents in general. Makes ya think. :-)
Well said. It's about bloody time!