IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mde/wpaper/0074.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Road Safety Effects of Tolls on Uncongested SCUT Highways in Portugal

Author

Listed:
  • Alfredo Marvão Pereira

    (Department of Economics, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA 23187)

  • Rui Marvão Pereira

    (Department of Economics, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA 23187)

  • João Pereira dos Santos

    (Nova School of Business and Economics, Faculdade de Economia – Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Abstract

We present a difference-in-differences analysis of the road safety effects of introducing tolls on SCUT highways in Portugal, a policy motivated purely by financial considerations, as congestion was never an issue. Using negative binomial count models and a comprehensive dataset on all mainland municipalities covering 2008 to 2014, we find that introducing tolls led to an increase in the total numbers of accidents and of road injuries in municipalities where SCUT highways are located. Additionally, we register a change in the composition thereof, with fewer occurrences on highways (including on SCUT highways) and an increase on national and other roads. Finally, we find that most effects pertain to light injuries. No statistically significant effects were identified for fatal or serious injuries. Furthermore, as a result of introducing tolls on SCUT highways, we estimate that around 20% of the toll revenue collected is lost on the costs linked to road accidents. This questions the rationale of introducing such tolls, even on a revenue-raising standpoint.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfredo Marvão Pereira & Rui Marvão Pereira & João Pereira dos Santos, 2017. "For Whom the Bell Tolls: Road Safety Effects of Tolls on Uncongested SCUT Highways in Portugal," GEE Papers 0074, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Jul 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:mde:wpaper:0074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.gee.gov.pt/RePEc/WorkingPapers/GEE_PAPERS_74.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2017
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robin Haynes & Andrew Jones & Victoria Kennedy & Ian Harvey & Tony Jewell, 2007. "District Variations in Road Curvature in England and Wales and their Association with Road-Traffic Crashes," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(5), pages 1222-1237, May.
    2. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John S. & Navarro, María, 2016. "Traffic accidents and the London congestion charge," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 11-22.
    3. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John. S. & Navarro, Maria, 2014. "Did liberalising bar hours decrease traffic accidents?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 189-198.
    4. Daniel Albalate, 2011. "Shifting Death to Their Alternatives The Case of Toll Motorways," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 45(3), pages 457-479, September.
    5. Janet Currie & Reed Walker, 2011. "Traffic Congestion and Infant Health: Evidence from E-ZPass," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 65-90, January.
    6. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    7. Martins, Rodrigo & Veiga, Francisco José, 2014. "Does voter turnout affect the votes for the incumbent government?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 274-286.
    8. Daniel Albalate & Germà Bel, 2012. "Motorways, tolls and road safety: evidence from Europe," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 457-473, December.
    9. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    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. Alves, Pedro Jorge & Emanuel, Lucas & Pereira, Rafael Henrique Moreas, 2020. "The causal effect of road concessions on road safety," SocArXiv rqew3, Center for Open Science.

    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. Alves, Pedro Jorge & Emanuel, Lucas & Pereira, Rafael Henrique Moreas, 2020. "The causal effect of road concessions on road safety," SocArXiv rqew3, Center for Open Science.
    2. Lichtman-Sadot, Shirlee, 2019. "Can public transportation reduce accidents? Evidence from the introduction of late-night buses in Israeli cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 99-117.
    3. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John S. & Navarro Paniagua, Maria, 2020. "Did the London congestion charge reduce pollution?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Daniel Albalate & Xavier Fageda, 2019. "Congestion, Road Safety, and the Effectiveness of Public Policies in Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    5. Alves, Pedro Jorge & Emanuel, Lucas & Pereira, Rafael H.M., 2021. "Highway concessions and road safety:Evidence from Brazil," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Andrea Baranzini & Stefano Carattini & Linda Tesauro, 2021. "Designing Effective and Acceptable Road Pricing Schemes: Evidence from the Geneva Congestion Charge," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(3), pages 417-482, July.
    7. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2017. "When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, February.
    8. Li, Shanjun & Liu, Yanyan & Purevjav, Avralt-Od & Yang, Lin, 2019. "Does subway expansion improve air quality?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 213-235.
    9. Tyndall, Justin, 2021. "Pedestrian deaths and large vehicles," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 26.
    10. Avdic, Daniel & von Hinke, Stephanie, 2021. "Extending alcohol retailers’ opening hours: Evidence from Sweden," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    11. Diaz Gutierrez, Julian, 2023. "Trade Effects on Substance Abuse: Evidence from Colombia's Liberalization," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335460, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Mocan, Naci & Raschke, Christian & Unel, Bulent, 2015. "The impact of mothers’ earnings on health inputs and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 204-223.
    13. Bel, Germà & Holst, Maximilian, 2018. "Evaluation of the impact of Bus Rapid Transit on air pollution in Mexico City," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 209-220.
    14. Ball, Alastair, 2014. "Air pollution, foetal mortality, and long-term health: Evidence from the Great London Smog," MPRA Paper 63229, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Mar 2015.
    15. Dafeng Xu, 2020. "Free Wheel, Free Will! The Effects of Bikeshare Systems on Urban Commuting Patterns in the U.S," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(3), pages 664-685, June.
    16. Tang, Cheng Keat, 2021. "The Cost of Traffic: Evidence from the London Congestion Charge," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    17. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I., 2015. "Per se drugged driving laws and traffic fatalities," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 122-134.
    18. Wang, Yangjie & Chen, Xiaohong & Ren, Shenggang, 2019. "Clean energy adoption and maternal health: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Marco Francesconi & Jonathan James, 2022. "Alcohol Price Floors and Externalities: The Case of Fatal Road Crashes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 1118-1156, September.
    20. Germà Bel & Maximilian Holst, 2015. "“Evaluation of the Impact of Bus Rapid Transit on Air Pollution”," IREA Working Papers 201519, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Sep 2015.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Road safety; Accident; Injury; Toll; Difference-in-differences; SCUT; Portugal;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:mde:wpaper:0074. 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: Joana Almodovar (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/geegvpt.html .

    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.