Safer Cars and NASCAR

In this short piece in the Pittsburg Tribune Review the author suggests that making the cars safer in NASCAR may actually lead to more accidents

NASCAR's introduction of the safety-oriented Car of Tomorrow is likely to lead to more wrecks in the races. Simply put, it is postulated that drivers who feel safer take more risks, with a resulting increase in accidents.

The issue was also covered by Foxnews here.

Economics professor Russell Sobel, who compiled the study with Penn State Erie professor Todd Nesbit, suggests the reason is psychological: if people believe they're safer, they're more likely to drive recklessly. "How do you think people would drive if we got rid of seat belts and installed metal daggers sticking out of the steering wheel?" Sobel asks. "Most people would say, 'I'm not going to be tailgating.'" The opposite holds true for regulations that make cars safer, he says. And with today's race cars equipped with roll cages, five-point harnesses, window nets, Lexan windshields and other features, Sobel said reckless driving is commonplace.

The academic study cited above is available here. Two economists show that over two decades of NASCAR data shows that their is a significant offsetting effect of improved car safety.

Our results clearly support the existence of offsetting behavior in NASCAR—drivers do drive more recklessly in response to the increased safety of their automobiles. Total injuries, however, still fall because this effect is not large enough to completely offset the direct impact of increased automobile safety.

This is an excellent piece that shows how something from Theoretical Economics (The Peltzman Effect) can be tested using Applied Economics (Econometrics). You should read sections 1,2,3 and 6. This will give you an idea of how an Economics research article is put together and an insight into the distinction between theoretical economics and applied economics that we covered in an earlier class. In this article we have

• Section 1: Introduction
• Sections 2 & 3: Theory
• Sections 4 & 5: Methods and Econometric Results
• Section 6: Main Conclusions

We are just interested in the Introduction, Theory and Main Conclusions. The actual methods are for a class in econometrics. I would recommend you read this piece and begin to get a feel for "academic" writing as we will be looking at several more articles throughout the year.

If anyone is interested in helping in a similar study for Formula One racing read below the fold.

I am interested in repeating a study like the NASCAR paper cited above.  There is scope for work in Formula One racing.  The data is available but needs to be compiled in a usable form.  The work to do done involved transferring the data to a spreadsheet so that the statistical analysis can be carried out.

If you are interested in taking part in a little economics research project send me an email.