Facts on Child Safety Seat Laws & Missouri

List of facts regarding Child Safety Seat Laws in Missouri

Safety Implications of Changing to a Primary Enforcement Seat Belt Law

In 1984, New York became the first state to enact a mandatory seat belt law; since then, the District of Columbia and every state except New Hampshire have adopted similar laws. Of the 49 states with seat belt laws, eight states included in their original seat belt laws primary enforcement provisions, which allow police to stop a driver solely on the basis of not wearing a seat belt (New York, Hawaii, North Carolina, Texas, Connecticut, Iowa, New Mexico, and Oregon). During the 1990s, beginning with California, nine states upgraded their seat belt enforcement provisions from secondary to primary. According to a recent survey of nearly 2000 adults conducted by the Insurance Research Council, there is considerable public support for primary and secondary seat belt enforcement: 47% of the survey respondents indicated support for primary enforcement, while 41% of respondents favored secondary enforcement

Representation in State Legislatures: A Focus on Missouri

In Summer 2003, the Institute of Public Policy conducted a mail survey of state legislators in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and South Dakota. We found that the number of requests for casework a legislative office receives in an average week during session varied greatly by state. Pennsylvania reported 107 cases on average, which was more than four times that of any other state (North Dakota, 24; South Carolina, 17; Arizona, 16; Missouri, 15; New Jersey, 12; South Dakota, 8; and Colorado, 7).Includes bibliographical reference

Enhancing Missouri Traffic Safety with a Primary Enforcement Seat Belt Law

In 1984, New York became the first state to enact a mandatory seat belt law; since then, the District of Columbia and every state except New Hampshire have adopted similar laws. Of the 49 states with seat belt laws, eight states originally included primary enforcement provisions in seat belt laws, which allow police to stop a driver solely on the basis of not wearing a seat belt. In 1993, California upgraded their secondary seatbelt enforcement provision to a primary law. Since then, 12 more states and the District of Columbia have strengthened their belt laws by making them primary enforcement laws. Missouri continues to permit only secondary enforcement and allows a minimal $10 fine. In 2002, Missouri ranked 35th in the nation in belt use rate, and the fatality rate per 100,000 persons was 21.6 in Missouri versus 14.6 for the national average and 7.18 in the safest state. Further, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in Missouri was$4.7 billion in 2000. A 2004 study commissioned by the National Safety Council shows Missouri could save at least $103 million dollars over the next ten years in Medicaid costs once a primary enforcement seat belt law was adopted

Seat Belt Use Among Rural & Urban Pickup Truck Drivers

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), traffic crashes are a leading cause of death among Americans ages four through 34. Many traffic fatalities are the result of a lack of or improper seat belt use. In Missouri, nearly 70 percent of those who die in traffic crashes are not wearing their seat belt. Seat belts, when properly used, are among the most important safety devices in a vehicle and can dramatically increase a driver or passenger's odds of surviving a crash. This report examines Missouri driver attitudes toward seat belt use, particularly focusing on male and female drivers in rural and urban settings, as well as pickup truck drivers vs. non-pickup drivers

Multi-Dimensional Ideology in the Multi-Member District: An Analysis of the Arizona Legislature

http://www.truman.missouri.edu/ipp/publications/index.asp?ViewBy=DateAmerican state legislatures provide considerable institutional variation for testing theories of legislative representation, and one such feature is the multi-member district system (MMD). Whereas the U.S. House and most American state legislatures use the single member district system (SMD) in which a single legislator represents one geographic district, several state legislatures still use a system in which more than one legislator is elected from the same district in the same election. Although there can be considerable variation in the rules for such MMDs, one structure common to many state legislatures is a situation in which multiplecandidates run against each other for two seats from one district, and the two receiving the most votes are elected. Clearly, the electoral game is quite different in a situation in which a candidate is likely to be running against not only members of other parties but also another candidate of the same party. The incentives inherent in such a system are quite different than those for a legislator in an SMD, and it likely that such incentives change legislative representation in a number of ways.Includes bibliographical reference

Explaining Public Attitudes on State Legislative Professionalism

Scholars have long argued that state legislative professionalism, or the provision of staff, legislator salary, and session length, has behavioral incentives for legislators and implications for legislative capacity. Scant attention, however, has been devoted to public attitudes on the provision of these legislative resources. Using survey data on preferences for features associated with a citizen legislature versus a professional legislature, we examine the contours of public attitudes on professionalism and test models on the factors associated with these attitudes. Results suggest partisanship, trust, and approval of the local delegation matter, but the factors differ by the legislative professionalism of the respondents state and for low versus high knowledge citizens.Legislative Professionalism, Public Opinion, Political Economy

Attitudes Toward Seat Belt Use Among Urban & Rural Teens

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among 15 to 20 year-olds in the United States. In Missouri, young drivers are involved in a disproportionate number of fatal traffic crashes. Recent surveys show that just 58 percent of teen drivers in Missouri regularly wear seat belts. This is significant, because nearly 70 percent of those who die in traffic crashes in Missouri are not wearing their seat belt. Nationally, there is a large variation in seat belt use among states. In 2005, 60.8 percent of drivers in Mississippi wore seat belts, the lowest rate in the nation, compared to a high of 95.3 percent in Hawaii. Missouri's overall seat belt usage rate in 2005 was 77.4 percent

Privatizing Functions of State Government

Privatization of traditional governmental functions has been extensively discussed in the United States for more than two decades, and states have chosen a wide range of programs for privatization and selected a variety of implementation and oversight strategies. In this report we examine the potential for privatization, privatization pitfalls, and ways to optimize the success of privatization effects. Privatization can be attractive for one of two different reasons. It may provide a revenue benefit when the contracting entity can provide the service at a lower cost than that experienced by the governing entity. Typically, lower costs arise from lower personnel costs or through the use of less expensive methods and technologies, including IT solutions. It may also be attractive because privatization may allow government to perform specific services more effectively or more efficiently than it could with its own employees. Typically, these situations occur when a private entity can be more flexible in the deployment of personnel and resources andwhen dealing with new technologies or processes.Includes bibliographical reference

State Regulation of Trucking: The Policy Impact of Differential Speed Limits

Includes bibliographical reference