A Framework for Thinking About Traffic Safety Policy

A FRAMEWORK FOR THINKING ABOUT TRAFFIC SAFETY POLICY... 

A Framework for Thinking About Traffic Safety Policy... 

Use of a more general framework for thinking about traffic safety policy would promote better balance among safety measures also. Since traffic safety is the product of interactions among the individual traveler, vehicles, and highway and traffic conditions, vehicle safety standards are only one of many policy measures which are available. Modern traffic safety policy has emphasized vehicle technology at the expense of nonregulatory alternatives such as inducements and information. 

Total costs of motor vehicle accidents are sometimes presented as a measure of need for more traffic safety policy action. For example, see Nelson S. Hartunian, Charles N. Smart and Mark S. Thompson The Incidence and Economic Costs of Major Health Impairments (Lexington, Mass. Lexington Books, 1981). According to our general framework for thinking about traffic safety the correct measure is the smaller, external costs. 

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