IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v7y2015i6p7310-7332d50897.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

External Costs to Parties Involved in Highway Traffic Accidents: The Perspective of Highway Users

Author

Listed:
  • Rong-Chang Jou

    (Department of Civil Engineering, National Chi Nan University, No.1, University Rd, Puli, Nantou County 54561, Taiwan)

  • Tzu-Ying Chen

    (Department of Civil Engineering, National Chi Nan University, No.1, University Rd, Puli, Nantou County 54561, Taiwan)

Abstract

This study explores highway travellers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for external costs caused by traffic accidents. There are a number of further external costs, the paper focuses on two externalities: air pollution and time delays. Data collection was performed using the face-to-face survey method, and the surveys were carried out at highway rest areas. Air pollution and time delays were divided into three levels of severity (light, moderate and severe) to obtain the interviewees’ WTP according to each level of severity. The result of this study demonstrates that there are many samples with zero WTP because penalties for pollution caused by traffic accidents are not currently enforced in Taiwan. Thus, the spike model was adopted in this study to overcome any estimation error that might be caused by excessive NT$0 WTP samples. The results show that variables such as age, education, income and willingness to participate in activities of environmental protection have a positive effect on WTP for air pollution, whereas variables such as occupation, travel purpose, traveller identity, travel time and travel distance have a significantly positive effect on WTP for time delays. WTP for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) is NT$8862–11,502/metric ton (US$1 = NT$30) and WTP for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is NT$1070–2693/metric ton. Moreover, WTP for time delays is NT$960–1320/h. The findings of this study not only demonstrate WTP for air pollution and time delays in the minds of parties to traffic accidents but also help to provide agencies with a basis to formulate applicable penalties in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Rong-Chang Jou & Tzu-Ying Chen, 2015. "External Costs to Parties Involved in Highway Traffic Accidents: The Perspective of Highway Users," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-23, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:6:p:7310-7332:d:50897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/7310/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/7310/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ghosh, Arindam, 2001. "Valuing Time and Reliability: Commuters' Mode Choice from a Real Time Congestion Pricing Experiment," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt9fz0z9kq, University of California Transportation Center.
    2. Brownstone, David & Steimetz, Seiji S. C., 2004. "Estimating Commuters’ “Value of Time” with Noisy Data: a Multiple Imputation Approach," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6s78c7rt, University of California Transportation Center.
    3. Brownstone, David & Ghosh, Arindam & Kazimi, Camilla & Van Amelsfort, Dirk, 2002. "Drivers' Willingness-to-Pay to Reduce Travel Time: Evidence from the San Diego I-15 Congestion Pricing Project," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt8q7331mz, University of California Transportation Center.
    4. Fredrik Carlsson & Mitesh Kataria & Alan Krupnick & Elina Lampi & Åsa Löfgren & Ping Qin & Susie Chun & Thomas Sterner, 2012. "Paying for Mitigation: A Multiple Country Study," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(2), pages 326-340.
    5. Halstead, John M. & Luloff, A.E. & Stevens, Thomas H., 1992. "Protest Bidders In Contingent Valuation," Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 21(2), pages 1-10, October.
    6. Brownstone, David & Ghosh, Arindam & Golob, Thomas F & Kazimi, Camilla & Van Amelsfort, Dirk, 2002. "Drivers' Willingness-to-Pay to Reduce Travel Time: Evidence from the San Diego I-15 Congestion Pricing Project," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt3mx1d1k4, University of California Transportation Center.
    7. Seung-Hoon Yoo & Chul-Oh Shin & Seung-Jun Kwak, 2006. "Inconvenience cost of spam mail: a contingent valuation study," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(14), pages 933-936.
    8. Rong-Chang Jou & Yuan-Chan Wu & Ke-Hong Chen, 2011. "Analysis of the environmental benefits of a motorcycle idling stop policy at urban intersections," Transportation, Springer, vol. 38(6), pages 1017-1033, November.
    9. Steimetz, Seiji S.C. & Brownstone, David, 2004. "Estimating Commuters’ “Value of Time” with Noisy Data: a Multiple Imputation Approach," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt52g9r2sd, University of California Transportation Center.
    10. J. Tobin, 1958. "Liquidity Preference as Behavior Towards Risk," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 25(2), pages 65-86.
    11. Li, Zheng & Hensher, David A. & Rose, John M., 2010. "Willingness to pay for travel time reliability in passenger transport: A review and some new empirical evidence," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 384-403, May.
    12. Shafie-Pour, Majid & Ardestani, Mojtaba, 2007. "Environmental damage costs in Iran by the energy sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 4413-4423, September.
    13. S. V. Ciriacy-Wantrup, 1947. "Capital Returns from Soil-Conservation Practices," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(4_Part_II), pages 1181-1196.
    14. David A. Hensher, 2001. "Measurement of the Valuation of Travel Time Savings," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(1), pages 71-98, January.
    15. Forkenbrock, David J., 1999. "External costs of intercity truck freight transportation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 505-526.
    16. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Boyle, Kevin J. & Leiserowitz, Anthony A., 2013. "Willingness-to-pay and policy-instrument choice for climate-change policy in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 617-625.
    17. Steimetz, Seiji S.C. & Brownstone, David, 2005. "Estimating commuters' "value of time" with noisy data: a multiple imputation approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 865-889, December.
    18. Brownstone, David & Ghosh, Arindam & Golob, Thomas F. & Kazimi, Camilla & Van Amelsfort, Dirk, 2003. "Drivers' willingness-to-pay to reduce travel time: evidence from the San Diego I-15 congestion pricing project," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 373-387, May.
    19. David Hensher, 2001. "The valuation of commuter travel time savings for car drivers: evaluating alternative model specifications," Transportation, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 101-118, May.
    20. Zegras, Christopher, 1998. "The costs of transportation in Santiago de Chile: analysis and policy implications," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 9-21, January.
    21. W. Michael Hanemann, 1984. "Welfare Evaluations in Contingent Valuation Experiments with Discrete Responses," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(3), pages 332-341.
    22. Bhat, Chandra R. & Sardesai, Rupali, 2006. "The impact of stop-making and travel time reliability on commute mode choice," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 709-730, November.
    23. Whitehead, John C. & Groothuis, Peter A. & Blomquist, Glenn C., 1993. "Testing for non-response and sample selection bias in contingent valuation : Analysis of a combination phone/mail survey," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 215-220.
    24. Aurelia Bengochea-Morancho & Ana Fuertes-Eugenio & Salvador Saz-Salazar, 2005. "A comparison of empirical models used to infer the willingness to pay in contingent valuation," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 235-244, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Feifeng Jiang & Kwok Kit Richard Yuen & Eric Wai Ming Lee & Jun Ma, 2020. "Analysis of Run-Off-Road Accidents by Association Rule Mining and Geographic Information System Techniques on Imbalanced Datasets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-32, June.
    2. Gabriel Brătucu & Anca Madar & Dana Boşcor & Codruţa Adina Băltescu & Nicoleta Andreea Neacşu, 2016. "Road Safety Education in the Context of the Sustainable Development of Society: The Romanian Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steimetz, Seiji S.C., 2008. "Defensive driving and the external costs of accidents and travel delays," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 703-724, November.
    2. Janson, Michael & Levinson, David, 2014. "HOT or not," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 21-32.
    3. Shewmake, Sharon & Jarvis, Lovell, 2014. "Hybrid cars and HOV lanes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 304-319.
    4. Holgun-Veras, Jos & Cetin, Mecit, 2009. "Optimal tolls for multi-class traffic: Analytical formulations and policy implications," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 445-467, May.
    5. Seiji S. C. Steimetz, 2009. "White‐Knuckle Externalities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 304-316, April.
    6. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M. & Oppewal, Harmen & Lancsar, Emily, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part I. Macro-scale analysis of literature and integrative synthesis of empirical evidence from applied economics, experimental psychology and neuroimag," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    7. Hensher, David A., 2010. "Hypothetical bias, choice experiments and willingness to pay," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 735-752, July.
    8. Brownstone, David & Small, Kenneth A., 2003. "Valuing Time and Reliability: Assessing the Evidence from Road Pricing Demonstrations," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt95z0p35k, University of California Transportation Center.
    9. Brownstone, David & Small, Kenneth A., 2005. "Valuing time and reliability: assessing the evidence from road pricing demonstrations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 279-293, May.
    10. Steimetz, Seiji S.C. & Brownstone, David, 2005. "Estimating commuters' "value of time" with noisy data: a multiple imputation approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 865-889, December.
    11. Hossan, Md Sakoat & Asgari, Hamidreza & Jin, Xia, 2016. "Investigating preference heterogeneity in Value of Time (VOT) and Value of Reliability (VOR) estimation for managed lanes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 638-649.
    12. Carrion, Carlos & Levinson, David, 2012. "Value of travel time reliability: A review of current evidence," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 720-741.
    13. MELIS, Lissa & SÖRENSEN, Kenneth, 2021. "The real-time on-demand bus routing problem: What is the cost of dynamic requests?," Working Papers 2021003, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    14. Jou, Rong-Chang & Chiou, Yu-Chiun & Chen, Ke-Hong & Tan, Hao-I, 2012. "Freeway drivers’ willingness-to-pay for a distance-based toll rate," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 549-559.
    15. Börjesson, Maria & Fosgerau, Mogens & Algers, Staffan, 2012. "On the income elasticity of the value of travel time," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 368-377.
    16. Fezzi, Carlo & Bateman, Ian J. & Ferrini, Silvia, 2014. "Using revealed preferences to estimate the Value of Travel Time to recreation sites," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 58-70.
    17. Varotto, Silvia F. & Glerum, Aurélie & Stathopoulos, Amanda & Bierlaire, Michel & Longo, Giovanni, 2017. "Mitigating the impact of errors in travel time reporting on mode choice modelling," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 236-246.
    18. Milad Haghani & Michiel C. J. Bliemer & John M. Rose & Harmen Oppewal & Emily Lancsar, 2021. "Hypothetical bias in stated choice experiments: Part I. Integrative synthesis of empirical evidence and conceptualisation of external validity," Papers 2102.02940, arXiv.org.
    19. Kenneth A. Small & Clifford Winston & Jia Yan, 2005. "Differentiated Road Pricing, Express Lanes and Carpools: Exploiting Heterogeneous Preferences in Policy Design," Working Papers 050616, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2006.
    20. Glavic, Drazenko & Milos, Mladenovic & Luttinen, Tapio & Cicevic, Svetlana & Trifunovic, Aleksandar, 2017. "Road to price: User perspectives on road pricing in transition country," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 79-94.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:6:p:7310-7332:d:50897. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.