European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday december 28, 1994 . The stars and stripes Page 7 risky driving air bags "  Richmond a. A Drivers whose cars have air bags May cause More crashes than Drivers without them if the added Protection emboldens them to take risks a study suggests. U the study of 206 fatal Virginia crashes in 1993 concludes that Drivers with air bags were disproportionately responsible for Multi car accidents and placed their own passengers at greater risk than did other Drivers. The study by economists George Hoffer Edwar Millner and Steven Peterson of Virginia common wealth University in Richmond will be published next fall in the journal of Law and economics. What it suggests is that air bag Drivers Are driving in such a manner As to offset the effectiveness of the air bag/1 Hoffer said. They think technology will bail them  he said the study is not a diatribe against air bags. 1 air bags Are Good. If you Don t change your driving habits you re clearly safer with an air  Hoffer said the study Analysed accidents involving1990-1993 Model cars 43 percent of which contain air bags. It was based on data from the department of motor vehicles. In fatal crashes involving an air bag equipped Carand one with no air bag the Driver of the air bag equipped vehicle was responsible 73 percent of the time Hoffer said. Of 13 single car accidents in which occupants other than the Driver died nine of the vehicles had air bags. At the Center of the study is a theory of offsetting be Havior pioneered 20 years ago by University of Chicago professor Sam Peltzman. The theory suggests that people respond to safety improvements by taking More  edits the journal in which the study will appear. Kim Hazelbaker senior vice president for loss data Institute in Virginia s Arlington county Sai