Estimating Seat Belt Effectiveness With Seat Belt Usage Data From The Centers For Disease Control
Abstract
A state cross-sectional model of traffic fatalities estimates the effectiveness of seat belts with data on usage from the Centers for Disease Control [Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (1987), henceforth BRFSS]. Seat belts have no statistically significant effect for total or driver or overall occupant fatalities. However, deaths for non-occupants and passengers increase with seat belt usage. The results suggest offsetting consumer behavior as driver drive more dangerously, due to seat belt laws, and non-occupants and passengers may be killed as a result. Care should be exercised in using these results, since the BRFSS data are based on telephone surveys. However, it has been shown here that the carefully gathered North Carolina observational data can be explained with BRFSS data. © 1990.
Recommended Citation
Garbacz, C. (1990). Estimating Seat Belt Effectiveness With Seat Belt Usage Data From The Centers For Disease Control. Economics Letters, 34(1), pp. 83-88. Elsevier.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1765(90)90186-5
Department(s)
Economics
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0165-1765
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2023 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 1990
