Originally Posted by
mdilthey
...Wider tires are heavier and slower, which could be considered a safety feature, I guess.
This was my first thought, though it's a tough one to sell. (I just noticed three different "ough" sounds in that sentence.) In the hiking world, there's a similar question about heavy boots vs running shoes. Some people get knee injuries from simply wearing heavy boots, so for them, the lighter shoes are safer in a way. No easy answer.