"Simon Gardner" [dot]co[dot]uk wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Hearn" wrote
"Simon Gardner" [dot]co[dot]uk wrote in message
"David Hearn" wrote:
"Simon Gardner" [dot]co[dot]uk wrote in message
(David) wrote:

I can't readily access this paper myself, but isn't this all
about
'risk compensation' - the theory that if a driver is strapped in
he
feels safer, and therefore more able and likely to drive more
dangerously (which he duly does, to the detriment of pedestrians
and
cyclists)?

Yup. It's why I don't wear a seatbelt when driving.

Refs:
"Target Risk" by Prof Gerald J.S. Wilde [PDE Publications, 1994]
"Risk" by Dr John Adams [Taylor and Francis, 1995]


The point is I am reducing the probability of having an accident in
the
first place and thus reducing the probability of others being injured.

snipped the rest

I admit that I haven't read the sources as I cannot find a copy online.

Then you haven't looked properly.

Now - your last point almost makes a supernatural claim: not wearing a
seatbelt will stop you from having an accident in the first place.

Where did you think that I said that?

At the end of your last post! Quoting the end of this/your post:

"BUT, I am reducing the probability of having an accident in the first
place"




Just to repeat my points in case you missed it:

1.) Majority of people may drive less carefully due to wearing a
seatbelt.
2.) Individual drivers can consciously try to drive carefully and safely
even wearing a seatbelt.

You appear to dispute the 2nd point by your quoted statement:

The point is I am reducing the probability of having an accident in
the
first place and thus reducing the probability of others being injured.

Correct. Whatever such individual driver "consciously" tries, the fact
remains that she will drive less carefully because of the aforesaid "risk
compensation" - generally known as the risk homeostasis effect.

Thus by not wearing a seat belt, I am increasing the probability of
serious
injury or death to myself. BUT, I am reducing the probability of having an
accident in the first place and thus both decreasing the likelihood of
ever
being involved in an accident and thus I am reducing the risk to other
road
users.

Anyway - I dispute the fact that you claim that a driver, by putting on a
seat belt, cannot drive as well as he would have done had he not worn a
seatbelt - *even if he consciously tries to*

I could agree with everything you said had it not been for you not accepting
that a driver can consciously drive carefully whilst wearing a seatbelt.

Maybe its best to agree to disagree...

D