A theoretical model is proposed in which road safety in a single country depends upon parochial considerations, such as police enforcement, and upon global considerations, such as international road safety technology. The authors show that there is a non-spurious relationship between the downward trend in the rate of road accidents in Israel and the road accident rate abroad. They suggest that this reflects the international propagation of road safety technology as it is embodied in motor vehicles and road design, rather than parochial road safety policy. Recent developments in the econometric analysis of time series are used to estimate the model using data for Israel. The authors make no direct attempt to explain the downward trend in the rate of road accidents outside Israel. (Author/publisher).
Abstract