Accident Chances are Assumed Constant— No Human Response

Accidents Chances are Assumed Constant—No Human Response 

The assumption of traveler passivity biases conventional benefit-cost studies towards positive net benefits. The reason for the bias in favor of safety equipment is that reasonable substitutions (risk compensation) can lead to more accidents and more violent accidents. The consequences are that the decrease in occupant fatalities will be less than expected based on technological effectiveness and that there will be an increase in nonoccupant injuries. 

The upward bias is inherent in a technological approach to traffic safety. The rigid approach caused problems in measuring the contribution of vehicle safety regulation export and it causes problems for evaluating mandatory passive restraints ex ante. The individual net benefit approach is a better approach because it incorporates zero risk compensation as a special case and permits attempts to measure any risk compensation. 

---