The TSA is Killing People

Okay, that's not exactly true...

But the TSA, with its new restrictions on travel, is causing more people to die.

This topic came up the other night during a seminar with my Economics advisor and a few other students. We were discussing the new TSA restrictions requiring either pat downs or scans before flights.  There was a lot of debate on invasion of privacy versus the necessity of security, and the conversation had bogged down into an ideological stalemate.

That's when my professor piped up and said, "There's an Introductory Economics reason for why the new restrictions are a bad idea. Can anyone tell me what it is?"

After a few half-hearted attempts, one of the girls in the group asked, "Is it because it increases the marginal cost of flying?"
"That's half of it," our professor encouraged.

An awkward silence fell.  Then one of the boys said excitedly, "It increases the number of cars on the road!"
"Exactly!"

Far more people die from car accidents per 100,000 people driving (it averages about 20 per year) than the number of people who die from planes per 100,000 people flying including all crashes, terrorist attacks, and random heart attacks from joining the mile high club (it's less than .1). That's 200 times the fatality rate.  So,  if the increased cost of being patted down or scanned encouraged 1 million more people each year to drive somewhere instead of flying, an additional 199 people would die.

Sure, the increased security may make it more difficult for terrorists to hijack or bomb planes, but considering the number of people who are killed on airlines by terrorists and the number of people who die in car accidents, it's not worth the lives of 200 people just to save 1.  And that's how the TSA is killing people.