Grant W. Neeley

Mandatory Seat Belt Laws in the States A Study of Fatal and Severe Occupant Injuries

This study examines the impact of mandatory seat belt laws on fatal and incapacitating injury rates in the states. Annual data for all 50 states for the period 1975-1991 are used. Pooled time series analysis is employed. The general conclusion that emerges from this analysis is that seat belt laws significantly impact state fatal injury rates. Primary enforcement and all-seat coverage provisions appear to be particularly effective in reducing fatality rates.

The Effect of State Regulations on Truck-Crash Fatalities

To improve traffic safety, states limit truck length and weight, and some set lower speed limits for trucks than for other vehicles. We examined the impact of truck-specific restrictions and general traffic-safety policies on fatality rates from crashes involving large trucks. We used state-level data from 1991 to 2005 with a cross-sectional time-series model that controlled for several policy measures. We found that higher speed limits for cars and trucks contributed to higher fatality rates, but differential speed limits by vehicle type had no significant impact. Truck-length limitations reduced fatalities in crashes involving large trucks. Our model estimates suggested that if all states had adopted a speed limit of 55 miles per hour for all vehicles in 2005, an additional 561 fatalities would have been averted.

Public Management in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region: Toward Increased Cooperation Between Texas and Mexican Officials?

MUNICIPAL MANAGERS in the U.S.– Mexico border area have been confronted with a series of public policy challenges in recent years. With the large growth in cross-border trade following implementation of NAFTA, ports, bridges, and rail links have become seriously congested and strained (Sharp 1998). The industrialization of border municipalities has also created serious groundwater contamination and air pollution problems in El Paso, Cuidad Juárez, and in other U.S. and Mexico border municipalities. Furthermore, as Mexicans migrate to the border in search of work, unplanned growth occurs, leading to further problems in the form of substandard housing, disease caused by untreated sewage, and lack of access to safe drinking water (Ingram, Laney, and Gillilan 1995, 28–103; Mroz, Morales, and VanDerslice 1996). The forces that create economic integration are international, but the costs of regional trade and economic integration are borne at the local level, particularly in U.S. and Mexican border municipalities. In this context, policymakers in subnational governments have expressed interest in developing local, binational solutions to regional problems (Saint-Germain 1995a; Rubaii-Barrett and Taggart 1996; Sharp 1998; Barkdull and Tuman 1999). To date, however, very little rePublic Management in the U.S.–Mexico Border Region: Toward Increased Cooperation between Texas and Mexican Officials?