3 ms·

Do drivers take greater risks from wearing a seatbelt? Where’s the data to substantiate their claims?

sampo 4y ago
> Do drivers take greater risks from wearing a seatbelt? Some people have suggested even that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation#Seat_belts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation#Seat_belts
- eropple 4y ago
  Followed immediately in the same section by a wider, more comprehensive, more recent study roundly asserting the exact opposite.
- stephen_g 4y ago
  It seems completely debunked in that case at least. I can imagine how somebody could have thought risk compensation might be a thing in the short term - such as when seatbelts were a new invention. I've seen the kind of thing like people demonstrating how their active cruise control won't let their new car crash into the car in front, which is a pretty dumb idea (even if it will almost certainly work). But that seems to wear off pretty quickly, and then having it just becomes the default and you don't think of it anymore, so I imagine any risk compensation would quickly evaporate. With bicycle helmets, they're mandatory here for riding out on the street, so it was just always the default. Anecdotally, putting on a helmet was and is just something we always did, and never changed the perception of risk because it was just the normal default. I don't even think about it, just like how I always put on the seatbelt and then don't think about it anymore.
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    > I've seen the kind of thing like people demonstrating how their active cruise control won't let their new car crash into the car in front, which is a pretty dumb idea (even if it will almost certainly work) Guilty as charged lol (though in my case it's to better understand how ACC behaved in various situations, given my unfamiliarity with it.
littlestymaar 4y ago
The risk compensation myth was crafted in the 70s as an argument against guardrails! And it was indeed reused as an argument again seatbelts a few years later. And of course, there has never been any data to substantiate these arguments.

> Do drivers take greater risks from wearing a seatbelt? Some people have suggested even that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation#Seat_belts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation#Seat_belts

eropple 4y ago
Followed immediately in the same section by a wider, more comprehensive, more recent study roundly asserting the exact opposite.
stephen_g 4y ago
It seems completely debunked in that case at least. I can imagine how somebody could have thought risk compensation might be a thing in the short term - such as when seatbelts were a new invention. I've seen the kind of thing like people demonstrating how their active cruise control won't let their new car crash into the car in front, which is a pretty dumb idea (even if it will almost certainly work). But that seems to wear off pretty quickly, and then having it just becomes the default and you don't think of it anymore, so I imagine any risk compensation would quickly evaporate. With bicycle helmets, they're mandatory here for riding out on the street, so it was just always the default. Anecdotally, putting on a helmet was and is just something we always did, and never changed the perception of risk because it was just the normal default. I don't even think about it, just like how I always put on the seatbelt and then don't think about it anymore.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  > I've seen the kind of thing like people demonstrating how their active cruise control won't let their new car crash into the car in front, which is a pretty dumb idea (even if it will almost certainly work) Guilty as charged lol (though in my case it's to better understand how ACC behaved in various situations, given my unfamiliarity with it.

littlestymaar 4y ago

The risk compensation myth was crafted in the 70s as an argument against guardrails! And it was indeed reused as an argument again seatbelts a few years later. And of course, there has never been any data to substantiate these arguments.