As a political scientist, I am expected to tell my readers to go vote.
As a political economist, I am encouraged to tell you not to bother because the probability that you get into an accident on the way to the polling place is greater than the probability that you cast the decisive vote.
Now I learn that the probability of being involved in a car accident spikes on presidential election days. "Research revealed an 18 percent increase in motor vehicle deaths on voting day. "This equaled about 24 people [deaths] per election." Moreover, "800 more people suffered disabling injuries as a result of the crashes. These injuries and deaths far outnumber those reported during times associated with an increase in drinking and driving, such as Super Bowl Sunday and New Year's Eve."
Drive safely, people.
IPE @ UNC
IPE@UNC is a group blog maintained by faculty and graduate students in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The opinions expressed on these pages are our own, and have nothing to do with UNC.
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Monday, November 3, 2008
Vote at Your Own Risk
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2 comments:
Stat of the day: You are more likely to win the lottery if you have not purchased a lottery ticket, then you are to cast the decisive vote in the American presidential election. If I remember correctly, the odds are 60 million to 1.
Any statistics on C league hockey players who voted by absentee ballot and injured themselves while high on Oxycodone?
River Rate #5
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