Perspective on Terrorism and Security

I've heard many questions and comments about security in Bali, so I have decided to both share my own experience (all good) and some statistics.

I fully understand people being concerned about traveling to a location where there has been terrorist activity. I understand the heightened concerns, and I appreciate that TSA (the USA Transportation Security Administration) is working with Bali. And I really feel for Australians, Balinese, and others who lost loved ones in the Kuta bombing.

I have been flying in and out of the Bali international airport since the summer of 1995, almost 11 years. The first time, I came about a week after a travel warning because of the “political instability” in Indonesia, and a few days after a student protest demonstration closed down the runways at the airport.

I came in September 2004, after the first Kuta bomb (12-Oct-2002). Including that trip, I have been through that airport on 6 trips since then (so, since I’m in Bali right now, that means a total of 11 times through the airport in 18 months), including a departure only a few days before the Jimbaran Bay bomb (1-Oct-2005). In case the good news didn’t make it to the USA, the terrorists responsible have been caught.

I have also picked up and dropped off people many other times, and I've never had any problems.
Here are some statistics that may help put things into perspective.

The first Kuta, Bali bomb (12-Oct-2002) killed 202 people - yes, horrible!
Death rate for USA for Automobile accidents: 116 per day. (source: (http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/
automobile_accidents_injury/deaths.htm ))
Every 2 days, more people die in USA auto accidents than died in the 2002 bombing.

The Jimbaran Bay, Bali bomb (1-Oct-2005) killed 26 people. A smaller number, but still horrible.
Autos caused 1,731 deaths in Australia in 1988 = 33 per week. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002)
(source: (http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/
automobile_accidents_injury/deaths.htm ))
Every week, more people die in Australian auto accidents than died in the 2005 bombing.

… More details and full text below….

Source: (http://www.vtpi.org/transitrisk.pdf)
“Transit risks tend to receive more attention than automobile risks. Because they are rare, incidents that kill or injure a few transit passengers often receive national or international media attention, while automobile crashes that kill a few people are so common they are considered local news, and injury accidents often receive no media coverage at all. Traffic accidents actually represents a much greater risk than terrorism (Adams, 2005):
• On an average day nine people die and over 800 are injured in British road accidents. The 7 July London terrorist deaths represent about six days of normal traffic fatalities.
• The 191 people killed 11th March 2004 by Madrid bombers were equivalent to about 12 or 13 days of normal traffic deaths in Spain.
• During the 25 worst years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, twice as
many people died there in road accidents as were killed by terrorists.
• In Israel, the annual road traffic death toll has been two or three times higher than civilian deaths by Palestinian terrorists during the violent years of 2000 through 2003.
• The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks killed about the same number of people as a typical month of U.S. traffic accidents. According to official reports, terrorists killed 25 Americans worldwide in 2002, 23 in 2003, and none in 2004, while about 42,000 Americans died in traffic accidents each of these years.
• A study by Wilson and Thomson (2005) calculated that in 29 OECD countries for which suitable data were available, the annual average death rate from road injuries was approximately 390 times that from international terrorism. The ratio road to terrorism deaths averaged over 10 years was lowest for the United States at 142 times. In 2001, U.S. road deaths were equal to those from a September 11 attack every 26 days.
There are several reasons that people react particularly strongly to terrorist attacks (Adams, 2005). Such attacks are designed to be highly visible, producing intense media coverage. The fact that the harm they cause is intentional rather than accidental makes them particularly tragic and frustrating. And they raise fears that such attacks may become more frequent or severe, so risks may increase in the future. For these reasons, it is unsurprising that transit terrorism tends to instill more fear than other risks that are actually much greater overall. That is exactly what terrorists intend.”

Deaths from Automobile accidents injury
source: (http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/
automobile_accidents_injury/deaths.htm)
Death rate extrapolations for USA for Automobile accidents injury: 42,443 per year, 3,536 per month, 816 per week, 116 per day, 4 per hour, 0 per minute, 0 per second.
Death statistics for Automobile accidents injury: The following are statistics from various sources about deaths and Automobile accidents injury:
· Caused 1,224 male deaths in Australia in 1988 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002)
· Caused 507 female deaths in Australia in 1988 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002)
· Caused 1,731 deaths in Australia in 1988 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002)

TSA warning (http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=090005198019608c):

TSA Finds Security at Bandara Ngurah Rai International Airport Does Not Meet International Standards
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Transportation Security Administration
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - December 23, 2005
...TSA representatives have been in Indonesia to help airport authorities bring Bandara Ngurah Rai International Airport up to international standards. The TSA representatives will continue to work with Indonesia and to assist local authorities with correcting security deficiencies at the airport as quickly as possible.
U.S. and foreign air carriers that fly directly between the United States and Indonesia are temporarily providing additional security measures that counter the deficiencies identified at the airport. If proper precautions are carefully observed by both the air carriers and the airport, Homeland Security believes that it is possible to safely conduct air service operations to and from Bandara Ngurah Rai International Airport.