SAFETY APPLIANCES MAKE DRIVERS LESS VIGILANT.

That's a corollary to "Automobiles go faster because they have brakes."

That observation, which I believe originated with George Stigler, also provoked research into the unintended consequences of crashworthiness standards.  Much of the early work was by Professor Stigler's colleague Sam Peltzman, thus any reference to more injuries and deaths accompanying tightened safety standards becomes a Peltzman Effect.

Put ever better autopilots in automobiles, and watch the drivers disengage.  "Tesla has the deadliest cars on the road today. According to a new study from iSeeCars, Tesla vehicles have the highest fatal crash rate among all vehicle brands in the United States."

Jalopnik contributor Andy Kalmowitz calls the roll of the motor vehicles operated most recklessly.

The study, conducted on 2018-2022 model year vehicles, looked at crashes between 2017 and 2022 that resulted in at least one of the occupants’ death. It found that Teslas have a fatal crash rate of 5.6 per billion miles driven.  Kia came in second with a rate of 5.5, followed by Buick at 4.8, Dodge at 4.4 and Hyundai at 3.9. For reference, iSeeCars says the overall average was 2.8, meaning the average Tesla crash is twice as deadly as average.

The study looked into more than just automakers, though. It also broke vehicles down by individual model. It still wasn’t pretty for Tesla. The Tesla Model Y had a 10.6 fatal crash rate. That’s nearly five times the average for SUVs, and it was the sixth worth score overall. (The Hyundai Venue,  Chevy Corvette, Mitsubishi Mirage, Porsche 911 and Honda CR-V Hybrid were above it). The Model S’s score came in at 5.8, two times the average.

To be fair to Tesla, these numbers don’t automatically mean its cars are unsafe for occupants. It has a lot more to do with how people drive these cars.

It could be, as Mr Kalmowitz suggests, that Tesla owners "tend to drive like goons," and surely there are a lot of cars in that list that figure in the same sort of slanging matches that accompany the big pickup trucks.  Streetsblog's Blake Aued, however, notes "That likely has to do with inattentive or impaired drivers overly relying on its automated features."

Professors Peltzman and Stigler would approve of the inference.