Editing Transportation Security Administration (section)

====Unintended consequences of screening enhancements====
Two studies by a group of [[Cornell University]] researchers asserted that increased airport security may have increased road fatalities, as would-be air travelers decide to drive and are exposed to the far greater risk of dying in a car accident.<ref name="cornell1" /><ref name="cornell2" /> In 2005, the researchers looked at the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and found that the change in passenger travel modes led to 242 added driving deaths per month.<ref name="cornell1">{{cite journal|last=Blalock|first=Garrick|author2=Vrinda Kadiyali |author3=Daniel H. Simon |date=February 10, 2005|title=The Impact of 9/11 on Road Fatalities: The Other Lives Lost to Terrorism|journal=SSRN Working Paper Series|issn=1556-5068|doi=10.2139/ssrn.677549|ssrn=677549|s2cid=166297695}}</ref> In all, they estimated that about 1,200 driving deaths could be attributed to the short-term effects of the attacks. The study attributes the change in traveler behavior to two factors: fear of terrorist attacks and the wish to avoid the inconvenience of strict security measures; no attempt is made to estimate separately the influence of each of these two factors.

In 2007, the researchers studied the specific effects of a change to security practices instituted by the TSA in late 2002. They concluded that this change reduced the number of air travelers by 6%, and estimated that consequently, 129 more people died in car accidents in the fourth quarter of 2002.<ref name="cornell2">{{cite web|url=http://aem.cornell.edu/faculty_sites/gb78/wp/JLE_6301.pdf |title=AEM.cornell.edu |access-date=January 16, 2012}}</ref> Extrapolating this rate of fatalities, ''New York Times'' contributor [[Nate Silver]] remarked that this is equivalent to "four fully loaded Boeing 737s crashing each year."<ref>{{cite news|last=Silver |first=Nate |url=http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/the-hidden-costs-of-extra-airport-security/?partner=rss&emc=rss |title=The Hidden Costs of Extra Security - NYTimes.com |publisher=Fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com |date= November 18, 2010|access-date=November 19, 2010}}</ref> The 2007 study also noted that strict airport security hurts the airline industry; it was estimated that the 6% reduction in the number of passengers in the fourth quarter of 2002 cost the industry $1.1 billion in lost business.<ref name="Blalock2007">{{cite journal|last=Blalock|first=Garrick|author2=Vrinda Kadiyali |author3=Daniel H. Simon |year=2007|title=The Impact of Post-9/11 Airport Security Measures on the Demand for Air Travel|journal=The Journal of Law and Economics|volume=50|issue=4|pages=731–755|issn=0022-2186|doi=10.1086/519816|s2cid=681649}}</ref>