This paper develops a set of models for the determinants of automobile fatalities with particular attention devoted to the effects of increased cell phone usage. Cell phones have been associated with both life-taking and life-saving properties. However, prior statistical evaluations of the...

Digital distraction, or the myopic use of technology at the expense of longer-term utility, is of growing importance as technology with the potential to distract becomes ubiquitous. We examine the consequences of digital distraction among drives in California by examining the relationship...

This study examines the effects of conversation mode and split-attention communication training on driving performance. The study is based on an experiment where drivers with and without communication training (pilots vs. nonpilots) completed a simulated driving course while involved in one of...

This paper examines the determinants of motorcycle fatality rates using panel data and classical and Bayesian statistical methods. It focuses on five variables in particular: universal helmet laws, partial helmet laws, cell phone use, suicidal propensities, and beer consumption. Universal helmet...

The link between cell phone use while driving and crash risk has in recent years become an area of active research. The most notable of the over 125 studies has concluded that cell phones produce a four-fold increase in relative crash risk--comparable to that produced by illicit levels of...

In this paper, we investigate to what extent and in what ways conditions related to the recession of 2007-2008 reduced fatal crashes. We hypothesize that the reduction in fatal automobile accidents operates through both the quantity of driving and changes in behaviors associated with driving....

This paper presents a model of vehicle choice and empirically examines the risk posed by light trucks (sport-utility vehicles, vans, and pickups) to those that drive them and to other drivers, relative to the risk posed by cars. It compares the relative risk of dying and the relative crash...