scholarly journals The Impact of Driving Knowledge on Motor Vehicle Fatalities

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter O. Simmons ◽  
Andrew M. Welki ◽  
Thomas J. Zlatoper
Keyword(s):  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Seat Belt ◽  
State Level ◽  
Young Drivers ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
Significant Life ◽  
Saving Effect ◽  
The Impact

This paper analyzes the influence of driving knowledge on highway safety by estimating regression models on U.S. state-level data over six years (2005 through 2010). The models incorporate a representative set of motor vehicle fatality determinants. Driving knowledge—as measured by performance on the GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test—has a statistically significant life-saving effect. Negatively related to the motor vehicle death rate and statistically significant are: real per capita income, precipitation, seat belt use, and a linear trend. Statistically significant positive associations with the rate are found for: the ratio of rural to urban driving, temperature, the percentage of young drivers, the percentage of old drivers, and alcohol consumption.

scholarly journals An Analysis of Illicit Drug Use and Motor Vehicle Fatalities Using Contiguous State-Level Data

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Welki ◽  
Thomas J. Zlatoper
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Seat Belt ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
State Level ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Older Drivers ◽  
The Impact

This paper analyzes the influence of illicit drug use on highway fatal outcomes by estimating regression models using data for the 48 contiguous U.S. states for the years 2009 and 2010. The models include a representative, but not exhaustive, collection of roadway fatality determinants. The impact of illicit drug usage on the motor vehicle death rate differs across age groups. There are statistically significant life-taking effects from marijuana use by the very youngest drivers. Comparable effects from the usage of cocaine and nonmedical pain relievers occur among older drivers. Negatively associated with the highway death rate and statistically significant are real per capita income and seat belt use. Statistically significant positive relationships with the rate are found for the ratio of rural to urban driving, temperature, speed limit, the percentage of older drivers, and cell phone usage. The paper provides information to policy makers at a time when state-level drug laws are changing rapidly. Evidence reported here on how drug use affects highway fatal outcomes is relevant to that discussion.

Obesity and motor vehicle deaths: a panel-data analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1233-1246
Author(s):  
Mary J. Becker ◽  
Lindsay N. Calkins ◽  
Walter Simmons ◽  
Andrew M. Welki ◽  
Thomas J. Zlatoper
Keyword(s):  
Death Rate ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Seat Belt ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
State Level ◽  
Highway Safety ◽  
Significant Positive Association ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper analyzes the impact of obesity on the probability of a motor vehicle fatality (highway death rate) and on its component probabilities: the probability of a fatality, given a crash (vulnerability rate) and the probability of a crash (crash rate).Design/methodology/approachUsing state-level data for 1995–2015, the paper estimates models explaining all three rates. Explanatory factors include obesity and a representative set of potential determinants.FindingsResults indicate that obesity has a statistically significant positive relationship with the highway death rate and the crash rate. Also having a statistically significant positive association with at least one of the three rates are the proportions of young and old drivers, alcohol consumption, the ratio of rural to urban vehicle miles and temperature. Factors with a statistically significant negative relationship with at least one of the rates include primary seat belt laws and precipitation. In 2016, a total of 928 traffic fatalities could have been avoided if obesity rates decreased by one percentage point.Practical implicationsSeat belts and crash dummies should be better designed to fit and represent those with higher BMIs, and education efforts to increase seat belt use should be supplemented with information about the adverse impact of obesity on highway safety.Originality/valueThis paper uses 21 years of state-level information, including socio-economic and regulation data, and contributes to the existing research on the relationship between obesity and highway safety.

scholarly journals The impact of a federal cigarette minimum pack price policy on cigarette use in the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan J Doogan ◽  
Mary Ellen Wewers ◽  
Micah Berman
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Price Policy ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Cigarette Use ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Minimum Price ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundIncreasing cigarette prices reduce cigarette use. The US Food and Drug Administration has the authority to regulate the sale and promotion—and therefore the price—of tobacco products.ObjectiveTo examine the potential effect of federal minimum price regulation on the sales of cigarettes in the USA.MethodWe used yearly state-level data from the Tax Burden on Tobacco and other sources to model per capita cigarette sales as a function of price. We used the fitted model to compare the status quo sales with counterfactual scenarios in which a federal minimum price was set. The minimum price scenarios ranged from $0 to $12.ResultsThe estimated price effect in our model was comparable with that found in the literature. Our counterfactual analyses suggested that the impact of a minimum price requirement could range from a minimal effect at the $4 level to a reduction of 5.7 billion packs sold per year and 10 million smokers at the $10 level.ConclusionA federal minimum price policy has the potential to greatly benefit tobacco control and public health by uniformly increasing the price of cigarettes and by eliminating many price-reducing strategies currently available to both sellers and consumers.

The Employment Impact of Casino Gambling in the U.S.

2013 ◽  
pp. 2-17
Author(s):  
Gary Anders
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
State Level ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Casino Gambling ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Employment Impact ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

Casino gambling has become a popular economic development strategy. This chapter examines the impact of casinos on employment as determined by an econometric analysis of state-level data for eight industries. The results suggest that the opening of casinos leads to employment increases in the arts and entertainment, accommodations, and food and beverage industries. At the same time, it leads to decreases in employment in management and professional services, technology, and manufacturing. Also evident is the impact of demographic changes and computer technology. These findings suggest that the expansion of commercial gaming has a positive effect on regional employment in some sectors while having a negative effect in other sectors, especially in those states with competing gambling venues.

Examining the Effect of Social Influence on Young Drivers’ Behavior

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 1394-1398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fangda Zhang ◽  
Shashank Mehrotra ◽  
Shannon C. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Influence Factors ◽  
Driver Distraction ◽  
Crash Risk ◽  
Novice Drivers ◽  
Young Drivers ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
The Impact

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15 to 20-year olds. Young/novice drivers have long been thought to be vulnerable to the impact of peer passengers, and thus have a higher crash risk. It has been proven that perceived risky behavior of close friends was the best psychosocial predictor of risk. Additionally, young drivers (18-20 years) have the highest involvement in distraction-related crashes. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of social influence and driver distraction on young drivers’ behavior. Twenty-four pairs of participants took part in the study. Participants drove in pairs and by themselves while completing four distraction tasks. Results showed that the presence of a passenger did not show statistical significance related to drivers’ behavior. However, other social influence factors did significantly impact drivers’ behavior, including stimulating companionship, type of friendship, and their interactions.

scholarly journals Head Start and Families’ Recovery from Economic Recession: Policy Recommendations for COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Scarborough ◽  
Caitlyn Collins ◽  
Leah Ruppanner ◽  
Liana Christin Landivar
Keyword(s):  
Head Start ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
State Level ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Head Start Programs ◽  
The Impact

Objective: This article examines whether the availability of Head Start during the Great Recession mitigated the impact of this crisis on poverty rates among families with young children.Background: The first two decades of the 21st century have witnessed two major economic crises: the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. Poverty rates among families with young children grew substantially during the Great Recession. Families with young children are also more vulnerable to instability during the COVID-19 pandemic as job losses have been steeper and childcare availability has been significantly curtailed. Programs like Head Start that support at-risk families may mitigate such negative consequences.Method: This study uses data from the American Community Survey from 2006 through 2016 and state-level data on Head Start availability from Program Information Reports. Growth curve modeling is used to examine how the availability of Head Start predicted poverty growth during the Great Recession and the speed of recovery post-recession.Results: States with higher rates of Head Start enrollment had a smaller increase in family poverty during the Great Recession and a more stable recovery than states with lower Head Start enrollment.Conclusions: These findings suggest that greater access to Head Start programs prevented many families from falling into poverty and helped others exit poverty during the Great Recession.Implications: The findings provide clear, evidence-based policy recommendations. Increased federal funding for Head Start is needed to support families during a COVID-19 recession. States should supplement these allocations to expand Head Start enrollment for all eligible families.

State-Level Clustering of Safety Measures and its Relationship to Injury Mortality

1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-357
Author(s):  
Phil Brown ◽  
Nicole Bell ◽  
Peter Conrad ◽  
Jonathan Howland ◽  
Martha Lang
Keyword(s):  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Seat Belt ◽  
State Level ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Injury Mortality ◽  
Structural Variables ◽  
Smoke Detectors ◽  
Gun Laws

This article proposes a social model of investigating injury mortality. The authors hypothesize that (1) state-level laws and regulations on safety cluster together in one or more groupings; (2) groupings of safety measures play a significant role in injury mortality; and (3) injury mortality is very highly associated with social structural variables. There is a clustering of safety policies, with five factors explaining 67 percent of variance, although no “master factor” was discovered. The strongest factor, explaining 21 percent of variance, includes three gun laws and low speed limits before the 1973 federal law. One factor is the most global in that it taps three distinct areas, including helmet laws, minor blood alcohol levels, and smoke detectors, though it only explains 7.5 percent of variance. The only factor that remains in a regression for injury mortality is one that includes strong seat belt laws and strong enforcement of those laws, though in the direction opposite to that hypothesized. This factor, along with percentage rural and environmental spending per capita, is significant for both motor vehicle and non–motor vehicle mortality. For motor vehicle mortality alone, deaths are higher in states with higher percentages of Hispanics and fewer people receiving food stamps and AFDC. Many factors that usually predict individual injury mortality do not hold at the state level, suggesting the usefulness of looking at social factors for new insights into injury mortality and prevention.

THE IMPACT OF BUSINESS CLIMATE, FOREIGN POPULATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT ON NEW VENTURE CREATION

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250021 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK HOELSCHER ◽  
BALASUBRAMANIAN ELANGO
Keyword(s):  
New Ventures ◽  
State Level ◽  
New Venture ◽  
New Venture Creation ◽  
Venture Creation ◽  
Business Climate ◽  
Foreign Population ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Impact

This paper seeks to add to the literature on regional factors that drive development of new ventures. In particular, it investigates the effects of business climate, foreign population and unemployment on new venture creation. Using state level data from the time period 2003–2007, we find that while business climate and foreign population are positively related to new venture creation, unemployment is negatively related. Implications of this study for fostering entrepreneurship are discussed.

The Impact of Economic Freedom on the Black/White Income Gap

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 587-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary A. Hoover ◽  
Ryan A. Compton ◽  
Daniel C. Giedeman
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
State Level ◽  
Median Income ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Black Households

Using state-level data from 1980-2010 we examine whether economic freedom, as measured by the Economic Freedom of North America Index, has had any impact in increasing or decreasing the ratio of median income for black households to the median income of white households. To our knowledge, there has been no research on racial income disparities and the role that economic freedom might have in alleviating or exacerbating the problem. We find evidence that economic freedom is associated with an increase in the racial income gap.

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