Good job improving the rationality of your friend! Now tell him he’s about as likely to die of the flu as he is of a car accident. Then he can have another fear. Either he’ll turn into a house-bound agoraphobe or he’ll realize nothing has changed since before he started worrying about these things.
Now tell him he’s about as likely to die of the flu as he is of a car accident.
That’s not remotely true, even looking at world-wide stats. Flu kills something like 300 to 650k per year. Traffic deaths max about 1200k per year. So even in a really bad flu season, traffic is twice as likely to kill you worldwide. If you’re not looking at everyone combined, and assuming your friend is between 5 and 65 the odd of dying from flu drop a lot, while the odds of a traffic deaths go way up.
The EU has 9.000 flu deaths and 19.000 traffic deaths in 2025/2026.
EDIT: I just realized if your friend is American, that’s actually true. The US had 45.000 flu deaths and 36.000 traffic deaths. sidenote: the US has a population about a third smaller than the EU…
So it varies, but in North America the number of people who die from flu vs. car accidents is between 60 and 102% as likely.
Car deaths are much higher in some countries than in others, and the same applies to flu deaths, but in places where people are flying more miles are going to have good enough health care to deal with the flu and have traffic safety laws that bring the risk down to the level of flu deaths.
Edit: just saw your edit so looks like we’re mostly on the same page. But even in the EU, do you really think most of them realize that you’re only twice as likely to die from as car crash as you are from the flu?
Good job improving the rationality of your friend! Now tell him he’s about as likely to die of the flu as he is of a car accident. Then he can have another fear. Either he’ll turn into a house-bound agoraphobe or he’ll realize nothing has changed since before he started worrying about these things.
That’s not remotely true, even looking at world-wide stats. Flu kills something like 300 to 650k per year. Traffic deaths max about 1200k per year. So even in a really bad flu season, traffic is twice as likely to kill you worldwide. If you’re not looking at everyone combined, and assuming your friend is between 5 and 65 the odd of dying from flu drop a lot, while the odds of a traffic deaths go way up.
The EU has 9.000 flu deaths and 19.000 traffic deaths in 2025/2026.
EDIT: I just realized if your friend is American, that’s actually true. The US had 45.000 flu deaths and 36.000 traffic deaths. sidenote: the US has a population about a third smaller than the EU…
Car deaths in 2024 in America: 44k as per the National Safety Council
Flu deaths in 2024 in America: 45k as per the CDC, but 2024 was higher for flu deaths than some other years.
So it varies, but in North America the number of people who die from flu vs. car accidents is between 60 and 102% as likely.
Car deaths are much higher in some countries than in others, and the same applies to flu deaths, but in places where people are flying more miles are going to have good enough health care to deal with the flu and have traffic safety laws that bring the risk down to the level of flu deaths.
Edit: just saw your edit so looks like we’re mostly on the same page. But even in the EU, do you really think most of them realize that you’re only twice as likely to die from as car crash as you are from the flu?