Analyst: TSA methods 'will kill more Americans on highway'

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The recent public ire toward the TSA’s new pat-down and body imaging screening methods is likely to cause more people to drive automobiles and forego airline travel, say two transportation economists who have studied the issue.

As the nation readies for one of the busiest traveling holidays, Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University, told The Hill that the probable spike in road travel, caused by adverse feelings towards the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new screening procedures, could also lead to more car-related deaths.

“Driving is much more dangerous than flying, as you are far more likely to be killed in an automobile accident mile-for-mile than you are in an airplane,” said Horwitz. “The result will be that the new TSA procedures will kill more Americans on the highway.”

Clifford Winston, a senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institute, stopped short of saying that more people could die as a result of the TSA policies, but said that the airline industry will definitely see a decline in passengers if the public’s contempt for the pat-downs and advanced-imaging technology systems continues.

“They added another wrinkle to airline travel by saying they’re going to screen you more thoroughly,” said Winston. “Demand for transportation takes into account the price, but also the time, and if you add on top of that the disutility or annoyance of having to be groped, then for some people that’ll also have an effect.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130243-analyst-new-tsa-procedures-will-kill-more-americans-on-the-highway

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Well, as anyone would tell you any way, you're more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the airport than you are in any terrorist attack.