Driver safety arms race

The driver safety arms race is phenomenon whereby car drivers are incentivized to buy larger auto-vehicles in order to protect themselves against other large auto-vehicles.[1][2][3] This has a spiralling effect whereby cars get increasingly larger, which has adverse overall effects on traffic safety.[4][5] It is an example of a prisoners' dilemma, as it can be individually rational to attain larger vehicles while having adverse outcomes on all traffic users.[6]

References
  1. White, Michelle J. (2004). "The "Arms Race" on American Roads: The Effect of Sport Utility Vehicles and Pickup Trucks on Traffic Safety". The Journal of Law and Economics. 47 (2): 333–355. doi:10.1086/422979. ISSN 0022-2186. S2CID 10175854.
  2. "Heavy cars and SUVs: The external costs of the vehicle-weight "arms race"". The Journalist's Resource. 2013-11-12.
  3. Grabar, Henry (2018-11-30). "The SUV Arms Race". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339.
  4. "SUVs protect drivers, but make everyone else less safe. How do we change that?". CBC. 2022.
  5. "Driver safety 'arms race' fuelling boom in gas-guzzling SUVs, says journalist". CBC. 2019.
  6. Tay, Richard (2002). "The Prisoner's Dilemma and Vehicle Safety: Some Policy Implications". Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. 36 (3): 491–495. ISSN 0022-5258. JSTOR 20053916.


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