THE SAFETY OFFSET -- by Steve Nadis
This just found its way to my desk. Now I'm trying to help it find its way to yours: A study by Purdue civil engineer Fred Mannering indicates that auto safety, paradoxically, declined from 1992 to 1996 during the same period that airbags and antilock braking systems were introduced. The reason, Mannering claims, is the "offset hypothesis"--namely that when people feel like their car is safer, they'll drive in a riskier manner. Mannering not only supports this hypothesis through his academic writings and statistical analyses, he also supports it in his daily life: "When I'm driving the MG," he says, "I definitely make a special effort not to tailgate or accelerate quickly when roads are slick because I don't have the antilock brakes, traction control and the other advanced safety features of my newer car."
Also, if that time period was when air-bags and antilock brakes were being introduced, wouldn't there be a lag before the effect would be seen on the accident rates? The majority of cars on the road would still be older ones without these features, so while the decline in auto safety and the introduction of new technology were concurrent, that does not necessarily mean one explains the other.
Just wondering... (Comment this)