The authors examined the relationship between motor-vehicle fatalities and alcohol taxes, prices, and various drinking laws. Estimates are based on data from 48 states over 9 years and consider total, youth, and alcohol-involved fatalities. None of the beer tax or price coefficients is significantly different from 0. The magnitudes of the estimated effects are much smaller than those reported in some previous studies. Seatbelt laws, the minimum legal drinking age, and dram-shop laws typically have statistically significant, negative relationships with fatalities. Other variables --- including preliminary breath tests and various mandatory penalties for driving under the influence --- are imprecisely estimated, sometimes have incorrect signs, and are usually not statistically significant. (A)
Samenvatting