Traffic accidents are inevitable, albeit undesirable, outcomes of vehicular travel. They impose a heavy burden to individuals and society. The most obvious individual costs are related to bodily harm, damaged property and lost time. Even those not involved bear a cost in terms of insurance premiums to offset the risks of driving. We rely on the private market to establish the price for coverage, with state oversight to address potential problems of market concentration, imperfect information and moral hazard. The fairness of variations in premiums hinges in part on the use of unbiased accuracy rates, but this is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Differences are questionable when based on discrimination or when externalities are present.

Traffic accidents are inevitable, albeit undesirable, outcomes of vehicular travel. They impose a heavy burden to individuals and society. The most obvious individual costs are related to bodily harm, damaged property, and lost time. Even those not involved bear a cost in terms of insurance premiums to offset the risks of driving. We rely on the private market to establish the price for coverage, with state oversight to address potential problems of market concentration, imperfect information and moral hazard. The fairness of variations in premiums hinges in part on the use of unbiased actuary rates, but this is a necessary bur not sufficient condition. Differences are questionable when based on discrimination or when externalities are present. 

This policy brief presents findings on the status of American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) children in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, which is coterminous with the County. According to the 2000 Census, there were an estimated 111,000 AIANs in the region who are indigenous to the greater United States. Over a quarter of these AIANs are under the age of 17. These children and their parents face numerous social problems and economic challenges, many of which have been previously documented. This brief uses three decades of census data to provide an updated analysis of the socioeconomic status of AIAN children, focusing on demographic characteristics, poverty, and educational issues.

This research explores the spatial distribution of pedestrian-automobile collisions in Los Angeles and analyzes the social and physical factors that affect the risk of getting involved in such accidents. More specifically, this study investigates the influence of socio-demographic, land use, density, and traffic characteristics on pedestrian accident rates.

We first provide an exploratory spatial and statistical analysis of pedestrian collision data in the city of Los Angeles to identify preliminary relationships between accident frequency and socio-demographic and land use characteristics at the census tract and block group levels. This aggregate level analysis also helps us identify major concentrations of pedestrian collision data which are used at a second stage of the research for more qualitative and detailed analysis of specific case studies of intersections with high frequency of pedestrian-automobile accidents. The study uses pedestrian accident data provided by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, traffic volume data provided by Caltrans, socio-demographic data from the U.S. Census 2000, land use data from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), and pedestrian volume and built environment data from fieldwork research.