Traffic Safety Reform in the United States and Great Britain

Studying highway safety in three US states as well as Britain, this work examines three recent initiatives: stricter drinking-age laws, mandated use of seat belts and deterrents to drunk driving. Legge tests a number of comprehensive models on how traffic fatalities might be reduced.

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The 1980s saw a renewed concern with highway safety, reflected in wide media coverage and new laws aimed at reducing highway deaths and injuries. But little is known about the consequences of these reforms. Using recent research, some his own, Jerome Legge examines three recent initiatives that have been studied only in isolation: stricter drinking-age laws, mandated use of seat belts, and deterrents to drunk driving. Legge's research covers three large industrial American states - New York, California and Michigan - and Great Britain, each exhibiting a different mix of these highway safety initiatives. Using a combination of theory and current research methodology, Legge tests a number of comprehensive models on how traffic fatalities might be reduced and offers valuable suggestions to policy-makers, researchers and activists. Legge's findings and conclusions sould be of interest to highway safety and traffic administration officials, local and state legislators, members of congress, automotive industry leaders, and citizens' groups seeking to combat drunk driving and to promote safer travel on highways.