The Effects of Boating Safety Policies in the United States

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of boating safety policies on accidents involving pleasure boats on state waterways. We focus on the impacts of law enforcement and youth certification policies, using ordinary least squares and negative binomial estimators that control for select demographic and geographical variables. Estimates from the negative binomial model are used in policy simulations to predict the outcomes of proposed boating safety policies. Our findings suggest that substantial reductions in accidents and property damages could be achieved through the uniform application of law enforcement and youth certification programs across the United States. The paper extends existing studies on automobile safety and demonstrates the usefulness of a maximum likelihood estimator for policy analysis.