Evaluating the Effects of Safety Policy Measures on Traffic Fatalities in Korea

Abstract

The effects of five traffic safety policies implemented in Korea are evaluated: the seat belt law; the installation of a tachometer or a speed limiter; a three‐strikeout driving while intoxicated (DWI) offence; a heavier penalty for a DWI offence; and the traffic violator report rewarding program. The monthly counts of crashes, injuries and fatalities in 1984–2003 were examined using an ARIMA intervention impact analysis to detect statistically and quantify the effectiveness of each of the five policies. No statistically significant abrupt and permanent impacts of the five policies on reducing the numbers of total crashes, fatalities and injuries were found.

Acknowledgement

The paper was supported by the 2003 Faculty Research Fund of Sungkyunkwan University, whose support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to two anonymous referees for numerous helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper. All the faults to be found in this paper, of course, are the authors’ own responsibility.