Originally Posted by
The Human Car
And I'll note for risk compensation to take place it does not matter how well the safety device works, it only matters how the driver feels.
That is right. It would be the subject's perceived change in risk. That is, if people believe that air bags make a significant difference -- they certainly make a difference although I have no hard estimates of the effect -- then they will behave accordingly.
So I think that we concluded that the noise at the aggregate level would swallow up a lot of effects other than gas prices!
