Safer Cars Result in More Accidents

Would you feel confident to race against a Viper or a Corvette when you're in a 20-year-old pickup-truck? Probably not. But would you feel safer driving a 4.3 tons Hummer H1 truck on a busy highway? You surely would, don't even try denying it. I guess that's why the number of SUVs sold in the US is continuously increasing.

Russell S. Sobel, professor in WVU's College of Business and Economics and his graduate student Todd M. Nesbit examined 21 years of NASCAR accident reports and made a comparison to introductions of safety requirements.

What they found is worrying: the more safety regulations you have, the more accidents drivers cause. It's not logical at first glance, but the explanation is more psychological than mechanical.

Improved safety in automobiles means stronger, more resistant building materials, as well as more efficient active and passive security systems.

If you know your car is safe, you don't worry so much about traffic conditions and overall driving safety, so the chances that you will unwillingly cause an accident increase.

"When safety regulation makes automobiles safer, drivers may drive more recklessly, partially or completely offsetting effects on the overall level of safety.," said Sobel.

He used the NASCAR competition for his study because unlike variations in road conditions, laws and weather factors that influence accident rates across the nation, which are harder to compare, the fact that many of these conditions are controlled in NASCAR races makes the sport a perfect subject for the study.

"We are essentially able to test how the same drivers, on the same tracks and in the same weather conditions, alter their behavior in response to changes in automobile safety," Sobel said.

Unfortunately, Sobel suspects the effect of increased safety leads to less caution and this probably has applications in other sports, like better helmets in football and bicycling and better gloves in boxing and possibly to average motorists.

"Obviously NASCAR drivers are different from regular motorists. On the other hand ask yourself this question: Would you drive more carefully if your car was less safe, say it had no seatbelts and a dagger protruding toward your heart from the steering wheel?" he asked.