Blogger accused of having blood on his hands

John Adams is probably better described as an expert on risk than as a blogger, but we'll let that pass. A commenter has accused him of being complicit in the death of a driver in New Zealand. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt when killed, an offence he'd been convicted for many times previously, and the commenter reckons Adams is to blame because of his stated views on seatbelts. (OK, so the guy was also high on drugs too, but....)

I'm reading Adams' book "Risk" at the moment, and I find his arguments quite convincing. In essence he says that if you wear a seatbelt, you are probably going to driver more recklessly than if you aren't. So while a seatbelt reduces the risk of injury if you're in a crash, it also makes you more likely to have a crash in the first place.

This is perhaps all a bit subtle for the commenter in question who reckons that Prof Adams has been campaigning for people not to wear seatbelts. If he (the commenter) was consistent he would also be cheering Adams' "campaign" every time a pedestrian was knocked over and killed: if people weren't wearing seatbelts, they'd never drive so fast.

Comments

[Tim Worstall]

Old stuff. Tullock:
http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2006/09/the_tullock_eff.html

[Bishop Hill]

That's interesting Tim, because Adams tells exactly the same story about having a sharp spike on the steering wheel. I wonder who got it from whom?

[TDK]

I can't tell you the answer but we discussed the effect of spikes on steering wheels (plus the effect of babies tied to bumpers) when I was at university in the mid 1980s. So it dates back to at least then.

We have the same discussion regarding vertical safety nets for trampolines with friends. We have no nets and have had only minor grazes. Some of the friends with nets have gash level incidents.