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Regulatory Analysis

Office of Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation

  • Provides comprehensive analysis of safety countermeasures in support of proposed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) or other regulatory actions including fuel economy standards
  • Evaluates the impact of existing FMVSSs and safety technologies

Regulations.gov - Federal Regulations Website

Regulatory Analyses from January 1971 – August 2018 (PDF, 159 KB)

Regulatory Evaluation - View publications on Regulatory Evaluations

Special Studies The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes Learn More

Regulatory Analysis Division

  • Informs decision-makers of the safety and economic impacts of alternative approaches to rulemakings
  • Required under Executive Order 12866
  • Enforces Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
  • Develops Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards
  • Oversees Safety Incentive and Behavioral Programs (e.g., Sec 157 seat belt incentive program)
  • Measures:
    • Safety benefits including lives saved and injuries prevented
    • Property damage savings from crash avoidance standards
    • Technology and design costs
    • Fuel-economy impacts
    • Impacts on greenhouse gases and other externalities

Evaluation Division

Measures lives saved, injuries prevented, and crashes avoided by existing safety standards and technologies, based on statistical analyses of crash data

  • Measures the costs of existing safety standards and technologies
  • Required by the GPRA and Executive Order 12866
  • Determines whether regulations actually achieve expected goals and benefits
  • Identifies areas where regulations should be revised, upgraded, or simplified

Special Studies

  • Measures the economic impact of motor vehicle crashes – periodic study
  • Conducts research into seat belt usage patterns
  • Estimates savings from increased seat belt use in specific states to help promote primary seat belt laws and other occupant protection programs