Risk compensation
Also known as: Peltzman effect, Risk homeostasis
Made to feel safer, people take more risks and offset the protection.
What it means
The tendency for people to adjust their behavior in response to a perceived change in risk, taking more chances when they feel better protected and fewer when they feel exposed, thereby partly — or in strong forms wholly — offsetting the intended effect of a safety measure. The mechanism is a shifted reference level of acceptable risk: a safety device alters how dangerous an activity feels, and behavior drifts back toward the comfort level the person tolerates. The strong 'risk homeostasis' version, claiming complete offset, is widely disputed, while milder partial compensation is better supported in some domains than others. It matters for the design and evaluation of safety interventions, from seatbelts and helmets to medical prophylaxis, because the behavioral response can erode, though rarely fully cancel, the protection — and ignoring it leads to overestimating an intervention's net benefit.
Examples
Drivers wearing seatbelts or driving cars with anti-lock brakes may follow more closely or brake later, recovering some of the added safety as extra speed.
People who apply sunscreen often stay out in the sun longer, spending the added protection on extra hours rather than banking it as less burning.
Cyclists who put on a helmet may ride faster and squeeze through tighter gaps in traffic, offsetting part of the very protection the helmet was bought for.
First described in Sam Peltzman (1975); risk homeostasis, Gerald Wilde.
Where this comes up
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