Using political logic, quarantines, border closures and lockdowns may never end

The recent knee-jerk lockdown has sparked more discussion about the ‘value’ of a human life. Yes, it may sound callous to put a price on life; yet we do it all the time.  

Consider road speed limits, for example. According to the RAC, Western Australia has the worst per capita road fatality rate of any state. On average, one person is killed on WA roads every two days.  

The World Health Organisation has found that speed predicts motor car accidents. A speed increase of one kilometre per hour results in a 3% higher risk of a crash involving injury, with a 4–5% increase for collisions that result in fatalities. So if the WA government lowered the state’s speed limit to 10 kilometres an hour, it would…