Thomas Borchert wrote
Actually, that's not true at all. FATALITY rates have improved
dramatically; accident rates are actually up.

Huh? You're saying there are more fatalities per miles driven, persons
transported, cars in the system or whatever other meaningful rate you
like to chose? It ain't so.

It ain't so, and it's not what I'm saying at all. Fatalities are down
by any meaningful measure (of course total fatalities are up, but
that's just because there are so many more cars and drivers on the
road). Accident rates are up. Collision insurance rates are up in
real dollars. We're having more accidents than ever, but a far
smaller fraction of them are fatal.

Reasons? Seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, impact-attenuating
crash barriers, etc. Those things work, because they don't do
anything to prevent accidents but simply make them more survivable.
Insurance companies won't give you a break for ABS anymore - they've
discovered that drivers who have ABS and know it simply drive more
agressively.

Michael