TravelWeary, as stimpy pointed out, there have been some bad bombings over here. While none came even close to the number of victims, the bombings here had and have one feature that makes them especially frightening: small in magnitude but high in frequency and highly variable in place.

This means that in places like MAD, car bombs can actually go off anywhere, be it in the city center or a quiet residential area. Some time ago in Paris, every trash bin was a possible drop place for bombs (therefore they were removed). Parcel bombs exploded in mail centers in Austria and Germany. A pipe bomb killed 16 people in the entrance of a DUS subway station. In 1980 terrorists blew up the Bologna train station, killing 85. London is still under the threat of IRA bombings. Terrorists in MOW blew up big appartment blocks.

Last weeks attacks were focused on symbols: WTC, the Pentagon, probably the White House. So my impression is that as long as you stay clear of vulnerable buildings or places, you are safe: the chance that a terrorist attack will occur in a residential area in, say, Kansas City is close to zero.