Chapter one question 3

Chapter one question three- what are the implications for the future? Are there long- or short-term consequences to the issues raised in the book? Are they positive or negative, affirming or frightening?

One passage stood out to me in particular with negative and frightening consequences.
"...estimated that every $1 increase in the price of gasoline is associated with an additional 1,500 motorcycle deaths annually"(Wheelan 23).

This is a terrifying statistic!  In this chapter Wheelan talks a lot about how people make decisions decisions to maximize their utility. Or in other words what choice would benefit the person most.  The passage above talks about how many people switched from cars to motorcycles to save money, these people did save money however they put themselves in harms way by doing so. Driving and riding in a car  is dangerous and some risk is taken by everyone who does so, however riding a motorcycle is even more risky because they have less safety features, are more exposed and much smaller.  People think that they are saving all this money on gas by switching to motorcycles, maybe they would prioritize their utility differently after reading that statistic.  In the sort run you would save more money by switching to a motorcycle but in the long run you will be a lot safer driving a car even if it does cost a little more.