On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 at 19:53:19 in message
, Thomas Borchert
wrote:

Both car and GA accident rates have dramatically declined with technical
improvements to safety over the last decades. This expert is simply not supported
by the numbers.

I was convinced that that was the main effect until I read a book called
'Risk' by John Adams. Now I do believe in risk compensation and the
possibility, for example that better and safer cars may lead to more
accidents to pedestrians.

The biggest factor for cars appears to be that the more traffic there
is, then the more the accident rate falls.

In the UK the highest annual road fatalities were in 1926. From then a
steady decline took place until the last couple of years. The only
exception to that was the war years when exceptional factors sent
accidents through the roof. (Example: complete darkness everywhere at
night and vehicles with almost non-existent head lights.)
--
David CL Francis