James Macinko, associate professor of public health and health policy at NYU Steinhardt, along with associate professor Diana Silver, has been awarded a $1,039, 500 grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study new directions for reducing traffic-related deaths and injuries in the U.S.
NYU Steinhardt’s James Macinko, associate professor of public health and health policy, and Assistant Professor of Public Health Diana Silver, have been awarded a $1,039,500 grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to investigate the effects of U.S. state policies on reducing traffic-related deaths and injuries in the U.S.
“Despite progress in recent years, traffic fatalities are a leading cause of death in the US. They remain the second-largest contributor to years of life lost before age 75, and are the single largest cause of death among youth aged 15-24 years,” said Macinko.
According to Silver, the study, “Understanding the Diffusion and Impact of State Alcohol and Traffic Policies,” breaks new ground because it goes beyond an examination of health policies and their impacts on traffic fatalities by exploring how and why some states have adopted more comprehensive policy approaches.
“Our study asks, what has been the long-term health impact of such different policy environments over the past 30 years?” Macinko explained.
Both researchers assert that the study’s ultimate impact will be to strengthen the evidence for more comprehensive policy approaches to tackling this important public health issue. It will also identify potential barriers and facilitators to adoption of these policies, thereby helping policymakers and legislators to craft legislation that will be more likely to be adopted in their own state.
“Little work has been done to understand how and why states differ in the number and types of policies they adopt or repeal,” Silver said.
In addition to building the evidence base on effective strategies for alcohol and traffic safety, the study results are expected to help perform "policy surveillance" of current state practices, identifying where states may have gaps in their current approach. The study uses policy variation across the U.S. from 1980 to 2010 as a natural experiment to assess how multiple alcohol and safer driving policies may work in concert--or in opposition--to reduce deaths and injuries over time.
The project is expected to yield insights that may be applicable to other types of public health laws that states enact, such as those related to smoking or nutrition.
Pat Shrout, NYU professor of psychology, and Maurizio Porfiri, an associate professor at NYU-Poly, are also involved in the project. Jean Bae, an alumna of NYU's Public Health program, will serve as project director.
About The NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to explore aspects of the human experience through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu.