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Fuel prices and road deaths in Australia

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  • Paul J Burke
  • Ataklti Teame

Abstract

After years of general progress in reducing Australia’s road death toll, road deaths increased in 2015 and 2016, reaching 1,293 per annum. These were also years of relatively cheap fuel following the dramatic decline in the world oil price in late 2014. This study uses monthly data to model the number of road deaths in Australia. Our estimates suggest that low fuel prices have contributed to knocking Australia off track for meeting its 2020 road safety target. The paper also provides a discussion of other factors that may have contributed to the rise in Australia’s road death toll.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul J Burke & Ataklti Teame, 2018. "Fuel prices and road deaths in Australia," CAMA Working Papers 2018-12, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:een:camaaa:2018-12
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    File URL: https://cama.crawford.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publication/cama_crawford_anu_edu_au/2018-03/12_2018_burke_teame.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jane M Fry & Lisa Farrell, 2023. "Road accidents: unexpected costs of stock market movements," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(1), pages 233-255.
    2. Rohan Best & Paul J. Burke, 2019. "Fuel prices and road accident outcomes in New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 109-124, May.
    3. Zhang, Tong & Burke, Paul J., 2020. "The effect of fuel prices on traffic flows: Evidence from New South Wales," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 502-522.
    4. Quiggin, John & Wang, Jiayu, 2019. "Unscrambling the toll road egg," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 29-38.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    road safety; road deaths; gasoline price; fuel price; Australia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy

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