What isn't clear to me is, do safer cars translate into fewer traffic injuries and deaths?
I recall reading an economics paper that indicated that safer cars encouraged more reckless driving and the two competing factors canceled each other out; as cars got safer, the number of accidents increased until the number of deaths and injuries returned to their prior levels.
I wonder if we all still drove 1959 cars would we be using cell phones while driving?
Not directly, no. Since 1959 cars are going faster, there is more of them, and the bar for driving one is lower because of ubiquity and social expectation. So it's about the same.
Just more cars, and more people driving them, so we see more crashes. I'd say the percentages don't matter as much because of how many more cars and roads there are. Even if they'd be marginally lower -- you still get many, many more crashes and injuries.
I recall reading an economics paper that indicated that safer cars encouraged more reckless driving and the two competing factors canceled each other out; as cars got safer, the number of accidents increased until the number of deaths and injuries returned to their prior levels.
I wonder if we all still drove 1959 cars would we be using cell phones while driving?