Let's start things off on a good note

This blog will be about many things. It'll be about consumer research. It'll be about economic research. It'll be about sociology. It'll be about what forces and indicators are shaping the world around us.

So for this first post, I'd thought we start off on a good note. The law of unintended consequences is too often given a bad name. Well, thank goodness for high gas prices. From the AP:

Traffic deaths around the country are plummeting, just as they did during the
Arab oil embargo three decades ago. Researchers with the National Safety
Council report a 9 percent drop in motor vehicle deaths overall through May
compared with the first five months of 2007, including a drop of 18 percent
in March and 14 percent in April.

There could be a couple of things going on here, and the article makes mention of the most obvious one: fewer miles being driven. But I also wonder about the effect of people driving slower in general to conserve fuel.

In a related note, there has to be a story out that reads, "Bike accidents soar."

Traffic death falls as gas prices climb