Initial effects of the New York State auto safety belt law

E.A. Latimer and Lester Lave

American Journal of Public Health, 1987, vol. 77, issue 2, 183-186

Abstract: New York State began enforcing a mandatory autombile safety belt use law on January 1, 1985. We present a proliminary analysis of its effect on fatalities and injuries. Applying a Poisson statistical model to pre- and post-law belt usage rates together with counts of fatalities and injuries in 12 metropolitan areas, we estimate the first six months' application of the law averted 220 fatal, 1,500 severe, 4,600 moderate, and 2,600 light injuries across the state. The Poisson approach gives estimates of injuries averted considerably greater than simple year to year comparsions, indicating that media announcements have understated the efficacy of requring safety belt usage.

Date: 1987
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1987:77:2:183-186_5

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().