German professor Gerd Gigerenzer estimates that the increase in automobile travel in the year after 9/11 resulted in 1,595 more traffic fatalities than would have otherwise occurred. In other words, more than half as many people died attempting to avoid another 9/11 than died in the actual attack. Add in the impact that stress had on our health, and the reaction to 9/11 may have been more deadly than the attack itself. "People jump from the frying pan into the fire," Gigerenzer said.
