Car deaths 400 times greater than terrorism: study

Deaths from car crashes in developed countries are nearly 400 times greater than those resulting from international terrorism, according to a study published on Thursday.

As many people die every 26 days on U.S. roads as were killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks, and politicians should bear this in mind when allocating resources to combat two "avoidable" causes of death, researchers said.

Their report, published in the journal Injury Prevention, compared the number of deaths from international terrorism with car crashes between 1994 and 2003 in 29 countries from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Overall it found that the annual average death rate from road deaths was 390 times that from terrorism, which had caused 3,064 deaths in 33 attacks in 10 of the OECD countries.

Of the countries suffering attacks, the United States had the lowest annual ratio of road to terrorism deaths at 142 times higher, while in Poland the car death rate was 55,300 times greater.

Across all the 29 countries, deaths from car crashes were the equivalent of a 9/11 attack every nine days, the researchers from Otago University in New Zealand said.

The report's authors added the evidence suggested that "the number of Americans who chose to avoid flying following 9/11 and lost their lives in road accidents was higher than the total number of passengers killed on the four fatal flights on 9/11."

Although recognizing that terrorism had a widespread psychological effect with a substantial political, social and economic impact, the authors said the scale of difference between the two causes of death could not be ignored.

"Policy makers need to consider these issues when allocating resources toward preventable interventions that can save lives from these two avoidable causes of mortality," they said.