The New York Times’ “Freakonomics” blog links to a study by James Habyarimana and William Jack of the Center for Global Development on how safety is improving on bus advertisement at a time in Kenya:
Habyarimana and Jack report the results of a fascinating field experiment they carried out, putting posters in over 1,000 randomly chosen Kenyan mini-buses. The posters told passengers to speak up if the driver drove dangerously.
And it really seems to have worked. Using data on insurance claims, the authors find that the buses that got these posters saw large declines in crashes relative to the control group, and the accident reduction appears to persist, as long as the signs remain posted.
People who use public transport in South Africa will need to find effective mechanisms to express their voice as these conflicts continue and likely heighten as transportation infrastructure developments continue in the lead-up to the World Cup. As the title of Steven Levitt’s post suggests,”Bus-riders of the world unite!”
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