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Primary Seat Belt Laws and Offsetting Behavior: Empirical Evidence from Individual Accident Data

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  • Bae, Yong-Kyun

Abstract

According to the offsetting effect theory, since drivers wearing seat belts feel more secure, they tend to drive less carefully and may cause more accidents, including those involving pedestrians. Most previous studies have used only state-level accident data, which cannot control for individual characteristics of drivers, vehicles, and the environmental factors surrounding the accidents. This paper uses individual-level accident data to analyze how drivers respond to the laws exploiting changes in the seat belt laws in a number of US states in the last decade. I find that the laws do not cause less careful behavior by drivers. In fact, they drive more carefully when more stringent seat belt laws are in effect, and this leads to less involvement of pedestrians in accidents. These results show that the offsetting effects do not exist when all accidents, including fatal accidents, are considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Bae, Yong-Kyun, 2011. "Primary Seat Belt Laws and Offsetting Behavior: Empirical Evidence from Individual Accident Data," MPRA Paper 30443, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:30443
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/30443/1/MPRA_paper_30443.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    6. Anindya Sen & Brent Mizzen, 2007. "Estimating the Impact of Seat Belt Use on Traffic Fatalities: Empirical Evidence from Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 33(3), pages 315-336, September.
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Seat belts lead to safer driving
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-06-02 19:17:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Lv, Jinpeng & Lord, Dominique & Zhang, Yunlong & Chen, Zhi, 2015. "Investigating Peltzman effects in adopting mandatory seat belt laws in the US: Evidence from non-occupant fatalities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 58-64.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Offsetting Effects; Safety Regulation; Seat Belt Laws; Vehicle Accidents;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L62 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Automobiles; Other Transportation Equipment; Related Parts and Equipment
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles

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