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I think it's also because people think they know how to assess the risks of cars. They think of crashes, maybe, as the primary (if not sole) risk. They don't kn

I think it's also because people think they know how to assess the risks of cars. They think of crashes, maybe, as the primary (if not sole) risk. They don't know of anyone who's ever died from car exhaust, apart from perhaps a carbon monoxide suicide. Cell phones are newer things in people's lives. There's less established understanding of what they can do. Combined with a general fear of radiation, and the associated risks of cancer, and it's easier to believe you'll get cancer from a phone than from car exhaust.

andrewflnr 13y ago
Think about that. Most people don't know anyone who has died from exhaust, but almost everyone knows someone who has been involved in a crash. We might not be sufficiently afraid of cars, but I think rating the danger of crashes above exhaust is reasonable.
- CalRobert 13y ago
  Most people know somebody whose emphysema, cancer, or other air-pollution related disease was at least exacerbated by exhaust. They just don't know that they do. This could even be you a few decades hence. Ironically this is similar to the danger posed by low-level radiation releases (except exhaust is far more dangerous), except everyone freaks out when their local radiation levels are 10% above baseline, but nobody cares when local pm2.5 levels are 20% above baseline. (They do notice at 1000%, to their credit).