On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 22:37:33 GMT, Velvet
wrote in message :

On the other hand, they drive less carefully when protected by
airbags, abs and seatbelts.

Not all of them do, ta :-)

I don't think anyone is immune to risk compensation, although some
people have a more realistic view of the merits of various safety aids
than others. The comment refers to research done on drivers with and
without ABS and seatbelts, which showed that they drove faster and
less safely when using those devices.

See Risk by John Adams.

I don't rely on ABS to stop me quicker - I
use it to even out the fact that the car in front probably has it and
will stop quicker than I can if I don't have it...

Er, actually ABS doesn't really affect stopping distances. It allows
you to steer while braking.

So it's not quite as clear cut that all the extra safety stuff makes
people drive less carefully :-)

It is, though. The taxi driver ABS trial was a near-perfect
double-blind study and it showed that those driving ABS equipped cars
accelerated harder, braked harder, drove faster and followed closer.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University