"Alan Gerber" wrote in message
...

I wouldn't agree with that, but it could be a risk factor.

There's a phenomenon that's been observed that people change their safety
margins in the face of safety equipment. People wearing bicycle helmets
tend to cycle in a riskier manner; people with ABS brakes drive a little
faster, and a little more aggressively, trusting the brakes to save them
if needed.

I suspect this is also a factor when there's a tower -- people let up on
their traffic scan, and lose some common sense, assuming the controller
won't let anything bad happen to them.


It appears many pilots believe ATC provides VFR/VFR separation in Class D
airspace. It's not the presence of the control tower that's responsible for
any perceived decrease in safety, it's ignorant pilots.