Traffic Safety Policies Research Articles

Traffic Safety Diagnostics and Application of Countermeasures for Rural Roads in Burkina Faso

The government of Burkina Faso has recently been making important macroeconomic changes to encourage the economic growth of the country. To maintain this growth, the government has implemented a transportation program to improve road network efficiency and safety. A 2000 study to improve the safety of rural roads in Burkina Faso is described. The primary objectives were to assess traffic safety problems and propose countermeasures to reduce the number and severity of collisions on rural roads. Many rural roads were evaluated on site; all accident data and important socioeconomic variables were collected; and key staff members from various governmental and private agencies were interviewed. The study has shown that traffic safety problems in Burkina Faso are multidimensional, involving inefficient traffic safety management and policy, inadequate road networks, untrained drivers, and defective vehicles. Several traffic safety countermeasures have been proposed for immediate, short-, and long-term application. The most important countermeasures are to create a new institutional framework for improving traffic safety management and train the key personnel responsible for implementing these countermeasures. For the short term, the counter-measures mainly relate to roadway infrastructure improvements and better enforcement tools. For the long term, the countermeasures include a review of current highway traffic laws and their application, evaluation of existing countermeasures, and driver training improvement.

Traffic Safety Diagnostic and Application of Countermeasures for Rural Roads in Burkina Faso

The Government of Burkina Faso has recently been conducting important governmental and macro-economic changes, aiming at encouraging the economic growth of the country. In order to maintain this growth, the Government has put in place a transportation program to improve the efficiency and safety of the road network. This paper documents the study carried out in 2000 on the safety improvement of rural roads in Burkina Faso. The primary objectives of the study were to prepare an assessment of traffic safety problems and to propose several countermeasures to reduce the number and severity of collisions on rural roads. To accomplish these objectives, a large sample of rural roads were visited and evaluated; all accident data and important socio-economic variables were collected; and key staff members from various governmental and private agencies were interviewed. The results of the study have shown that traffic safety problems in Burkina Faso are multidimensional, involving inefficient traffic safety management and policy, inadequate road networks, untrained drivers and defective vehicles. Several traffic safety countermeasures have been proposed for immediate, short- and long-term application. The most important countermeasures consist of creating a new institutional framework with which to improve the management of traffic safety and to train the key personnel who will be responsible for implementing traffic safety countermeasures. In the short term, the proposed countermeasures are mainly related to roadway infrastructure improvements and better enforcement tools. In the long term, the proposed countermeasures include the review of current highway traffic laws, their application, the evaluation of countermeasures already in place, and the improvement of driver training.

The Influence of Drug Policy on Transportation Policy Decisions

Since about 1994, when the German Federal Constitutional Court effectively decriminalized the possession of small amounts of cannabis, a functional equivalent to criminal law has evolved in the form of traffic laws providing for the revocation of driving licenses in cases of cannabis possession. The historical and legal interpretations of this regulation are described, and its consequences are analyzed. It is postulated that, under the veil of traffic safety, harsh and repressive drug policies are being utilized to counteract legalization tendencies.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AUTOMOBILE SAFETY INSPECTIONS

Studies of traffic safety typically assumethat policies are adopted to further thepublic interest, thereby ignoring thepolitical motives for policy. Sincepolitical motives can influence the designor enforcement of policies, accounting forpolitical motives has relevance forevaluating policy effectiveness. Weexamine the political motives concerning afrequently-studied traffic safety policy: state-mandated vehicle safety inspection. We distinguish between public interest andspecial interest explanations for safetyinspection. Our econometric models examinethe incidence of inspection across states,and determinants of regulated inspectionfees. The evidence strongly rejects apublic interest explanation, but specialinterest hypotheses also do not proveentirely satisfactory. Since recentstudies find that inspections fail toimprove highway safety, we attribute thecontinued existence of inspection programsto political transaction costs rather thanto the demands of interest groups.

A statistical model to compare road mortality in OECD countries

The objective of this paper is to compare safety levels and trends in OECD countries from 1980 to 1994 with the help of a statistical model and to launch international discussion and further research about international comparisons. Between 1980 and 1994, the annual number of fatalities decreased drastically in all the selected countries except Japan (+12%), Greece (+56%) and ex-East Germany (+50%). The highest decreases were observed in ex-West Germany (−48%), Switzerland (−44%), Australia (−40%), and UK (−39%). In France, the decrease in fatalities over the same period reached 34%. The fatality rate, an indicator of risk, decreased in the selected countries from 1980 to 1994 except in the east-European countries during the motorization boom in the late 1980s. As fatality rates are not sufficient for international comparisons, a statistical multiple regression model is set up to compare road safety levels in 21 OECD countries over 15 years. Data were collected from IRTAD 1 IRTAD Web site, 1998. http://www.oecd.org//dsti/sti/transpor/road/stats/IRTAD 1 (International Road Traffic and Accident Database) and other OECD statistical sources. The number of fatalities is explained by seven exogenous (to road safety) variables. The model, pooling cross-sectional and time series data, supplies estimates of elasticity to the fatalities for each variable: 0.96 for the population; 0.28 for the vehicle fleet per capita; −0.16 for the percentage of buses and coaches in the motorised vehicle fleet; 0.83 for the percentage of youngsters in the population; −0.41 for the percentage of urban population; 0.39 for alcohol consumption per capita; and 0.39 for the percentage of employed people. The model also supplies a rough estimate of the safety performance of a country: the regression residuals are supposed to contain the effects of essentially endogenous and unobserved variables, independent to the exogenous variables. These endogenous variables are safety performance variables (safety actions, traffic safety policy, network improvements and social acceptance). A new indicator, better than the mortality rate, is then set upon the residuals. Mean estimates of this indicator for the years 1980–1982 and the years 1992–1994 rank the countries in the beginning and at the end of the study period. Countries showing the best ranks (and thus the best performance) in 1980 and 1994 are Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway. The UK and Switzerland reach the top 5 in 1994. Greece, Belgium, Portugal and Spain are the last countries in the classification along with, surprisingly, the USA. France was ranked 18th in 1980 and 15th in 1994 but is ranked amongst the five countries that most improved from 1980 to 1994. This model remains non definitive because it is not able to distinguish between safety performance and unobserved exogenous variables although these exogenous variables could explain more about the differences in levels and trends between the countries. More complex models, particularly highly sophisticated models regarding the number of fatalities with breakdowns by road users or road classes would be needed to give a precise and profound ranking of safety levels and safety improvements between countries.

Why drivers speed: The speeding perception inventory

This study reports initial results of a project to better understand the factors that predispose, enable, and reinforce drivers' speeding behavior. This information is essential for successful traffic safety programs. A perceptual inventory was developed and administered to a large, college-age sample. High levels of internal consistency were found. Factor analysis suggested five predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing constructs: 1. (a) Ego-gratification; 2. (b) Risk-taking; 3. (c) Time pressures; 4. (d) Disdain of driving; 5. (e) Inattention. Males agreed more strongly than females with ego-gratification items; younger subjects agreed more strongly with risk-taking and less strongly with time pressures items than older subjects; and, females agreed more strongly than males with time pressures, disdain of driving, and inattention items. The perceptual inventory approach shows promise over behavioral and attitudinal self-reports, particularly when self-reported referent criteria are difficult to obtain. Results from the inventory can be used to target traffic safety and health education programs, and can be incorporated into discussions of traffic safety policy, legislation, and enforcement.

Measuring the contribution of randomness, exposure, weather, and daylight to the variation in road accident counts

Road accident counts are influenced by random variation as well as by various systematic, causal factors. To study these issues, a four-country, segmented data base has been compiled, each segment consisting of monthly accident counts, along with candidate explanatory factors, in the various counties (provinces) of Denmark, Finland, Norway, or Sweden. Using a generalized Poisson regression model, we are able to decompose the variation in accident counts into parts attributable to randomness, exposure, weather, daylight, or changing reporting routines and speed limits. To this purpose, a set of specialized goodness-of-fit measures have been developed, taking explicit account of the inevitable amount of random variation that would be present in any set of accident counts, no matter how well known the accident generating Poisson process. Pure randomness is seen to “explain” a major part of the variation in smaller accident counts (e.g. fatal accidents per county per month), while exposure is the dominant systematic determinant. The relationship between exposure and injury accidents appears to be almost proportional, while it is less than proportional in the case of fatal accidents or death victims. Together, randomness and exposure account for 80% to 90% of the observable variation in our data sets. A surprisingly large share of the variation in road casualty counts is thus explicable in terms of factors not ordinarily within the realm of traffic safety policy. In view of this observation, it may seem unlikely that very substantial reductions in the accident toll can be achieved without a decrease in the one most important systematic determinant: the traffic volume.

Policy Design, Social Regulation, and Theory Building: Lessons from the Traffic Safety Policy Arena

Despite the interest of political scientists in social regulatory policy implementation, only recently has the policy design movement begun classifying and assessing the comparative advantage of various policy "tools" or implements. This study seeks to advance understanding of social regulatory policy tools by assessing their potential as a vehicle for developing midrange theories of policy design. Analysis of Michigan traffic safety data indicates that those pursuing policy design research should anticipate that: (1) enforcement effects vary across regulatory tools; (2) attributes such as "birth order" and "precision of targeting" can condition the impact of various types of social regulatory tools differently; (3) success is conditioned not only by implement attributes, but also by implementation styles, contexts, and target populations; and (4) the comparative advantage of any tool can be assessed accurately only by considering its interaction with other implements across these disparate styles, contexts, and target populations.

Policy Design, Social Regulation, and Theory Building: Lessons from the Traffic Safety Policy Arena

Policy Design, Social Regulation, and Theory Building: Lessons from the Traffic Safety Policy Arena

The effects of driving age, driver education, and curfew laws on traffic fatalities of 15-17 year olds.

This study examines the effect of state driving age, learning permit, driver's education, and curfew laws on 15-17-year-old driver fatality rates. A multivariate regression model is estimated for 47 states and nine years. The minimum legal driving age and curfew laws are found to be important determinants of fatalities. Driver's education and learning permits have smaller effects. The relationship between rates of licensure and driving age, education, and curfew laws is also examined. In each case, a more restrictive policy is found to reduce licensure of 15-17 year olds. The results suggest that the imposition of curfew laws and higher minimum driving ages are particularly effective traffic safety policies.

The Effect of Minimum Drinking Age Legislation on Youthful Auto Fatalities, 1970-1977

Annual state data on auto fatality rates for an 8-year period (1970-77) are examined to study the influence the magnitude of change in a state's minimum legal drinking age (mlda) has on teenage auto fatality rates. Factors taken into account include: the average auto fatality rate prior to the change; the year-to-year variability in this rate; the precise nature of the legal change; and minimum drinking age laws in contiguous states. During the 8-year period there were 20 instances in which a state reduced its mlda and one instance in which the mlda was increased. The principal finding is that a reduction in the mlda from 21 to 18 years of age for all alcoholic beverage types will result in an increase in the auto fatality rate for 18-to 20-year-olds of about 7 percent, and a somewhat smaller increase for 16-to 17-year-olds. It is estimated that the national 18-to 20-year-old auto fatality rate was about 3 percent higher in the mid-1970s than it would have been if minimum age laws had not been amended between 1970 and 1975. This information can serve as one useful input into the policy decision concerning the appropriate minimum drinking age. (Author/TRRL)

The Effects of Consumer Safety Standards: The 1973 Mattress Flammability Standard

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Effects of Consumer Safety Standards: The 1973 Mattress Flammability StandardPeter LinnemanPeter Linneman Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Law and Economics Volume 23, Number 2Oct., 1980 Sponsored by The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and The University of Chicago Law School Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/466969 Views: 8Total views on this site Citations: 17Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1980 The University of Chicago Law SchoolPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Eugenio J. Miravete, Katja Seim, Jeff Thurk One Markup to Rule Them All: Taxation by Liquor Pricing Regulation, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 12, no.11 (Feb 2020): 1–41.https://doi.org/10.1257/mic.20180155James K. Hammitt Implications of the WTP–WTA Disparity for Benefit–Cost Analysis, Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis 6, no.11 (Mar 2015): 207–216.https://doi.org/10.1017/bca.2015.1Burak Dolar, William F Shughart The USA Patriot Act's differential impact on large and small banks: Evidence from California's high-risk money laundering and related financial crime areas, Journal of Banking Regulation 13, no.22 (Feb 2012): 127–146.https://doi.org/10.1057/jbr.2011.22Christopher Garbacz, Herbert G. Thompson Are smoke detectors as effective as the public health literature reports?, Economics Letters 97, no.11 (Oct 2007): 11–16.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2007.02.007Soumaya M. Tohamy, Deborah Vaughn Aiken Assessing regulatory effectiveness with exogenously declining risk: A case study of the CPSC's 1973 mattress standard, Journal of Safety Research 38, no.66 (Jan 2007): 661–668.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2007.09.003Natalia Martin Cruz, Juan Hernangomez Barahona, Juan Manuel De La Fuente Sabate Steps towards medication harmonization: A look at Europe and the United States, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 8, no.33 (Sep 2006): 225–240.https://doi.org/10.1080/13876980600858424Laura I. Langbein Responsive bureaus, equity, and regulatory negotiation: an empirical view, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 21, no.33 (Jun 2002): 449–465.https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.10054J. Howard Beales Licensing and Certification Systems, (Jan 2017): 1236–1239.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-74173-1_234Gaines H. Liner Is the age 60 rule relevant?, Applied Economics 26, no.1111 (Jul 2006): 1055–1060.https://doi.org/10.1080/00036849400000121SCOTT M. Fuess, MARK A. Loewenstein FURTHER ANALYSIS OF THE THEORY OF ECONOMIC REGULATION: THE CASE OF THE 1969 COAL MINE HEALTH AND SFNETY ACT, Economic Inquiry 28, no.22 (Apr 1990): 354–389.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1990.tb00821.xRoger G. Noll Chapter 22 Economic perspectives on the politics of regulation, (Jan 1989): 1253–1287.https://doi.org/10.1016/S1573-448X(89)02010-8 Richard A. Ippolito A Study of the Regulatory Effect of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, The Journal of Law and Economics 31, no.11 (Oct 2015): 85–125.https://doi.org/10.1086/467150Glenn C. Blomquist A Framework for Thinking about Traffic Safety Policy, (Jan 1988): 27–51.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2683-7_2 Ann P. Bartel , and Lacy Glenn Thomas Predation through Regulation: The Wage and Profit Effects of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, The Journal of Law and Economics 30, no.22 (Oct 2015): 239–264.https://doi.org/10.1086/467137Cathleen D. Zick, Robert N. Mayer, Laverne Alves Snow Does the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission make a difference? An assessment of its first decade, Journal of Consumer Policy 9, no.11 (Mar 1986): 25–40.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00380308 W. Kip Viscusi Consumer Behavior and the Safety Effects of Product Safety Regulation, The Journal of Law and Economics 28, no.33 (Oct 2015): 527–553.https://doi.org/10.1086/467100Samuel Long Abstracts of Documents in this Supplement, (Jan 1982): 1–576.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-5214-1_1

A Theory of Nonmarket Failure: Framework for Implementation Analysis

THE principal rationale for public policy intervention lies in the inadequacies of market outcomes. Yet this rationale is really only a necessary, not a sufficient, condition for policy formulation.1 Policy formulation properly requires that the realized inadequacies of market outcomes be compared with the potential inadequacies of nonmarket efforts to ameliorate them. The "anatomy" of market failure provides only limited help in prescribing therapies for government success.2 That markets may fail to produce either economically optimal or socially desirable outcomes has been elaborated in a well-known and voluminous