Citation

Block W. Transp. Res. Rec. 1983; 912: 7-10.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1983, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The highway safety record in the United States is unfortunate, where some 50,000 people lose their lives every year and some 2,000,000 more are involved in serious accidents. This phenomenon has evoked a response from the social science community: try to find the causes and hence the cures. The difficulty, however, is that all such attempts have been marred by a major flaw: the belief that whatever else is the cause of the problem, one thing is not responsible--the current institutional arrangements, whereby road and street safety is the responsibility of the public sector. This view is challenged, and an alternative scenario of private road ownership is presented. Based on this model, several attempted explanations of, and implicit cures for, highway fatalities and accidents are discussed. Specifically, an analysis is undertaken of the claim that a major portion of the responsibility can be leveled at the manufacturers of road vehicles. One fallacy committed by this argument includes ignoring the fact that the private highway inspection industry has been in effect nationalized. The criticisms by the Naderites of the NHTSA are considered, and the policy recommendations based on this analysis are rejected.

Language: en

Keywords

HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION; HIGHWAY SYSTEMS; HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS