On Halloween the media scare people with stories about dangerous costumes and poison candy. Most of the stories are not even true.

Lots of things Americans are scared of pose little risk.

John Stossel goes to Times Square and asks people what scares them. Most answered with low-risk dangers, like sharks, spiders, horses, and plane crashes. Common among the answers was the fear of losing control.

Flying scares many people more than driving. That’s because in cars we feel in control. But there are more than 90 deaths a day from car crashes. No one’s died in an American commercial plane crash in years.

Stossel says it’s not good to fear so much. Fear is a friend of big government. Politicians use our fear to say, “there ought to be a law!”

Yet life in America is safer than ever. Don’t let the media, and politicians, wreck your Halloween!

(Originally posted here.)