Estimating the Impact of Seat Belt Use on Traffic Fatalities: Empirical Evidence from Canada

Anindya Sen () and Brent Mizzen

Canadian Public Policy, 2007, vol. 33, issue 3, pages 315-336

Abstract: This study contributes to the literature by using provincial data in Canada between 1980 and 1996 to analyze the effect of seat belt use on traffic fatalities. Empirical estimates from first stage instrumental-variables regressions suggest that the enactment of mandatory seat belt laws is significantly associated with an increase in average seat belt use, while corresponding estimates from second stage regressions imply that a 1 percent increase in average seat belt use is correlated with a 0.17­0.21 percent drop in vehicle-occupant fatalities. These results suggest that roughly 17 percent of the observed decline in vehicle-occupant fatalities is attr ibutable to the enactment of mandatory seat belt legislation and the corresponding increase in seat belt use. Keywords:

Date: 2007
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