THE DEREGULATION OF SAFETY: A CRITICAL REVIEW. 13TH AUSTRALASIAN TRANSPORT RESEARCH FORUM, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, 18-21 JULY 1988; FORUM PAPERS. VOLUME 1 AND 2

Policies of economic and social deregulation have developed considerable momentum in New Zealand. It is appropriate to reconsider the relative advantage of regulatory and deregulatory approaches to safety management. Any such analysis must also consider two closely related topics; the nature of the legal system through which victims recover compensation and the theory of offsetting behaviour which claims that all safety regulations are doomed to failure. It is argued here that the objective of government in the road safety arena is the minimising of net social cost. A case is put for the view that market mechanisms will fail to achieve this result. Because of external effects even ideal road safety consumers will select too little safety. Therefore, special measures are necessary. In theory both the tort liability legal system and regulation can provide incentives to greater safety. Experience shows that tort liability fails on both efficiency and equity grounds. Overall, a strong case for regulation emerges which is not disturbed by an ethical analysis suggests that government may be morally required to intervene if regulation would save lives. (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0477052096
• Corporate Authors:

  Ministry of Transport, New Zealand

  38-42 Waring Taylor Street, P.O. Box 3175
  Wellington,   New Zealand 
• Authors:
  • SCOTT, G
• Publication Date: 1988

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 757-76
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Ministry of Transport, New Zealand
  • Publisher: Ministry of Transport, New Zealand

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Conferences; Costs; Crashes; Deregulation; Economics; Evaluation and assessment; Federal government; Financial responsibility; Hazards; Highway safety; Management; Policy; Risk assessment; Sociology; Travelers
• Uncontrolled Terms: Compensation (Law)
• Geographic Terms: New Zealand
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 155: Administration; 9001: Behaviour; 8525: Conference; 224: Cost; 144: Deregulation; 255: Economics; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 183: Government (national); 1548: Indemnity; 8079: New Zealand; 173: Policy; 9150: Risk; 1755: Road user; 1665: Safety; 2253: Sociology
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Finance; Highways; Law; Policy; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00492903
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• ISBN: 0-477-05209-6
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: May 31 1990 12:00AM