I've been unable to find it on the web. Getting reprints from LA Times Magazine is more complicated or expensive (or both) than I'm prepared to tackle for Usenet purposes. But Sanjiv Bhattacharya wrote a piece a few months ago that a friend shared with me via e-mail. I have the e-mails, but no longer have the original piece.
The article was how, despite ever-improving safety provisions -- seat belts, seat belt laws, DUI laws, air bags, crumple zones, roll cage pbuttenger compartments, divided highways, etc. -- traffic rests tend to (after an initial dip when the new technologies are introduced) return to pretty much the same rest-per-miles-driven ratio they've been since the 1940s. That, for every safety measure imposed, drivers tend to compensate by driving even more irresponsibly, apparently bolstered by the butturance that the new technologies will protect them. The piece cited psychologists and traffic safety experts who mused on the phenomenon.
Back when nearly all highways were two-laned, there were a lot of head-on collissions caused by aggressive drivers pbutting slower cars. Divided highways cut that down for a while, then people drove faster, hopped the median, and *entered* roads on *exit* ramps and...bang. Seat belts cut down baneities for a while, then it became evident that shoulder belts were needed. There was a Public Service Announcement a few decades back where the Highway Patrolman said he'd "never investigated a bane accident when someone had been wearing a seat belt." They can't run that spot today. People drive faster or more recklessly as their perceptions of their cars' "protection" increases. (I always wondered about Volvo drivers, for example. Do they buy the "safer" car because they are "safer" drivers, or because they *expect* to be in an accident?)
Most of my driving life have been in small, two-seat roadsters. The MG Midget, the Healy, the Miata, the Porsche... they all encouraged increased perception of what was happening around me. Those times I fell victim to larger sedans and coupes, I was a lazier driver.
It ought to be infinitely obvious that typing out messages while you're driving isn't as safe as paying attention to the road and traffic. It's a bit more iffy when considering conversations on cell phones; just how is it different from listening to the radio or singing allong with a Stones' CD, really? But, according to the LA Times Magazine piece, most people think they've got seat belts, air bags, DUI laws, and manditory insurance coverage...so they're invincible.
We're all gonna die some day and there will always be people who will figure out ways to speed up the process.
