Transportation Safety in an Age of Deregulation

Recent legislation deregulating the airline and trucking industries has enhanced competition and reduced real transportation prices by putting pressure on firms to operate more efficiently. Yet, with the entry of many new small airlines and trucking firms facing the financial pressures of
competition, many legislators fear that public safety will be reduced due to compromises in maintenance, equipment replacement, recruitment and training. This volume examines the theoretical and empirical issues involved in the debate on the relationship between safety and economic performance in
the airline and trucking industries. Contributors discuss such factors as the role of government as provider of safety oversight personnel and airport and road space quality, and conclude that the government has not acted quickly enough to provide the additional safety resources to meet the changed
needs of the two industries, though the evidence does not support the notion that deregulation has compromised safety.

Contributors; Introduction; Thomas Gale Moore: The myth of deregulation's negative effect on safety; Brock Adams: Deregulation's negative effect on safety; Framework for analysis: John C. Panzar, & Ian Savage: Regulation, deregulation and safety: an economic analysis; Severin Borenstein, & Martin B. Zimmerman: Losses in airline demand and value following accidents; Ezra Hauer: The reign of ignorance in road safety: a case for separating evaluation from implementation; W. Kip Viscusi: The effect of transportation deregulation on worker safety; The airline industry: Nancy L. Rose: Financial influences on airline safety; A. Kanafani, & T.E. Keeler: New entrants and safety; Clinton V. Oster, Jr. & C. Kurt Zorn: Is it still safe to fly?; Elizabeth E. Bailey, & David M. Kirstein: Can truth in airline scheduling help the congestion and delay problem; Richard A. Arnott, & Joseph E. Stiglitz: Congestion pricing to improve air travel safety; John J. Nance: Economic deregulation's unintended but inevitable impact on airline safety; Summary of other aviation issues; The motor carrier industry: Garland Chow: Deregulation, financial distress and safety in the general freight trucking industry; Thomas M. Corsi, & Philip Fanar, Jr: Effects of new entrants on motor carrier safety; Kenneth D. Boyer: The safety effects of mode shifting; Paul P. Jovanis: A system perspective on the effects of economic deregulation on motor carrier safety; An international perspective: Martin Albu, & Michael Glover: The regulation of road freight transport in Great Britain; Ramsey M. Withers: Transportation safety and economic regulatory reform - the Canadian perspective; Summary and policy implications; Summary and policy implications; Background information