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Old 09-05-2001, 10:38 AM   #13
Slithy_Tove
Disorderly Orderly
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Philly 'burbs, PA, USA
Posts: 52
Quote:
Originally posted by jaguar
Almost enough to make you go out, buy a volvo and drive it into a road train wihtout a seatbelt eh?
=P
Interesting you should say that.

It's been suggested that everyone has their own set-point for the amount of risk they want to experience, and that individuals will adjust their risk-taking behavior until it meets their own internal set-point. If you force them to take fewer risks -- for example, to force them by law to wear a seat-belt -- they will find some other way to raise their risk to meet their set-point. By driving faster, for example. Seat-belt laws would then be pointless.

Whether this is true or not, I don't know, and I haven't read the psychology research behind it, but I've always thought it was a fascinating and disturbing idea.
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