IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/series/v3y2012i4p457-473.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Motorways, tolls and road safety: evidence from Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Albalate
  • Germà Bel

Abstract

European governments are increasingly committed to road safety, due to the impact of road accidents in terms of economic loss and as a public health threat. In addition to regulation, providing better road infrastructure is an essential strategy to promote road safety. This paper investigates the relationships between different types of road quality and their impact on national safety outcomes using an international (European) panel data. Since European countries have different motorway network funding strategies—free motorways funded by the budget and tolled motorways funded by users—we pay special attention to the type of funding chosen and consider whether it has any consequences for safety. Our results suggest that extending the motorway network is associated with a reduction in fatality rates, while the rest of road types do not have the same positive effects. However, this virtue is only statistically significant for free motorways; tolled motorways do not provide any significant impact, probably due to socially inefficient pricing and investment policies currently in force. Copyright The Author(s) 2012

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:3:y:2012:i:4:p:457-473
    DOI: 10.1007/s13209-011-0071-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13209-011-0071-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13209-011-0071-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. AndrÊ de Palma & Robin Lindsey, 2000. "Private toll roads: Competition under various ownership regimes," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 34(1), pages 13-35.
    2. MARCHAND, Maurice, 1968. "A note on optimal tolls in an imperfect environment," LIDAM Reprints CORE 22, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. 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.
    4. Engel Eduardo M & Fischer Ronald & Galetovic Alexander, 2004. "Toll Competition Among Congested Roads," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Braid, Ralph M., 1996. "Peak-Load Pricing of a Transportation Route with an Unpriced Substitute," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 179-197, September.
    6. Verhoef, Erik & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 1996. "Second-Best Congestion Pricing: The Case of an Untolled Alternative," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 279-302, November.
    7. Vickrey, William S, 1969. "Congestion Theory and Transport Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 251-260, May.
    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. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & Castro-Nuño, Mercedes & Fageda, Xavier, 2015. "Are traffic violators criminals? Searching for answers in the experiences of European countries," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 86-94.
    2. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Ilias Pasidis & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2022. "Congestion in highways when tolls and railroads matter: evidence from European cities [The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(5), pages 931-960.
    3. Baños-Pino, José F. & Boto-García, David & Zapico, Emma, 2021. "Persistence and dynamics in the efficiency of toll motorways: The Spanish case," Efficiency Series Papers 2021/03, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    4. Nicola Berloco & Stefano Coropulis & Giuseppe Garofalo & Paolo Intini & Vittorio Ranieri, 2023. "Analysis of the Factors Influencing Speed Cushion Effectiveness in the Urban Context: A Case Study Experiment in the City of Bari, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Castro-Nuño, Mercedes & Arévalo-Quijada, M. Teresa, 2018. "Assessing urban road safety through multidimensional indexes: Application of multicriteria decision making analysis to rank the Spanish provinces," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 118-129.
    7. 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.
    8. Mercedes Castro-Nuño & José I. Castillo-Manzano & Xavier Fageda, 2015. "Do more trucks lead to more motor vehicle fatalities in European roads? Evaluating the impact of specific safety strategies," ERSA conference papers ersa15p306, European Regional Science Association.
    9. Castillo-Manzano, José I. & Castro-Nuño, Mercedes & Fageda, Xavier, 2016. "Exploring the relationship between truck load capacity and traffic accidents in the European Union," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 94-109.
    10. Baños-Pino, José F. & Boto-García, David & Zapico, Emma, 2022. "Persistence and dynamics in the efficiency of toll motorways: The Spanish case," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    11. José Castillo-Manzano & Mercedes Castro-Nuño & Xavier Fageda, 2014. "Can health public expenditure reduce the tragic consequences of road traffic accidents? The EU-27 experience," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(6), pages 645-652, July.
    12. Francisco Calvo-Poyo & José Navarro-Moreno & Juan de Oña, 2020. "Road Investment and Traffic Safety: An International Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-15, August.
    13. Daniel Albalate, 2013. "The Road against Fatalities: Infrastructure Spending vs. Regulation?," ERSA conference papers ersa13p221, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Zapico, Emma & Baños-Pino, José F. & Mayor, Matías, 2024. "Optimal toll rates accounting for traffic accidents: A productive efficiency approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).

    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. Erik T. Verhoef & Kenneth A. Small, 1999. "Product Differentiation on Roads: Second-Best Congestion Pricing with Heterogeneity under Public and Private Ownership," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 99-066/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Erik T. Verhoef, 2000. "Second-Best Congestion Pricing in General Networks - Algorithms for Finding Second-Best Optimal Toll Levels and Toll Points," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-084/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Verhoef, Erik Teodoor, 2000. "The Generalized Second-Best Network Congestion Pricing Problem," ERSA conference papers ersa00p336, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Verhoef, Erik T. & Koh, Andrew & Shepherd, Simon, 2010. "Pricing, capacity and long-run cost functions for first-best and second-best network problems," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 870-885, August.
    5. Daniel Albalate & Germa Bel, 2008. "Motorways, tolls and road safety.Evidence from European Panel Data," IREA Working Papers 200802, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Feb 2008.
    6. C. Robin Lindsey & Erik T. Verhoef, 2000. "Traffic Congestion and Congestion Pricing," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-101/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Rouwendal, Jan & Verhoef, Erik T., 2004. "2. Second-Best Pricing For Imperfect Substitutes In Urban Networks," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 27-60, January.
    8. Georgina Santos & Erik Verhoef, 2011. "Road Congestion Pricing," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 23, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Ubbels, Barry & Verhoef, Erik T., 2008. "Governmental competition in road charging and capacity choice," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 174-190, March.
    10. Kraus, Marvin, 2003. "A new look at the two-mode problem," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 511-530, November.
    11. Verhoef, Erik T., 2002. "Second-best congestion pricing in general static transportation networks with elastic demands," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 281-310, May.
    12. De Borger, Bruno & Proost, Stef, 2012. "Transport policy competition between governments: A selective survey of the literature," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 35-48.
    13. Verhoef, Erik T., 2002. "Second-best congestion pricing in general networks. Heuristic algorithms for finding second-best optimal toll levels and toll points," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 707-729, September.
    14. Lindsey, Robin, 2012. "Road pricing and investment," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 49-63.
    15. Verhoef, Erik T., 1999. "Time, speeds, flows and densities in static models of road traffic congestion and congestion pricing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 341-369, May.
    16. Ubbels, Barry & Verhoef, Erik T., 2008. "Auctioning concessions for private roads," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 155-172, January.
    17. David Levinson & Peter Rafferty, 2004. "Delayer Pays Principle: Examining Congestion Pricing with Compensation," Working Papers 200407, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    18. Small, Kenneth A. & Yan, Jia, 2001. "The Value of "Value Pricing" of Roads: Second-Best Pricing and Product Differentiation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 310-336, March.
    19. Button, Kenneth, 2020. "The Transition From Pigou’S Ideas On Road Pricing To Their Application," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(3), pages 417-438, September.
    20. Borger, Bruno De, 2011. "Optimal congestion taxes in a time allocation model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 79-95, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Road safety; Tolls; Motorways and transportation; H23; I18; R48;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • R48 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government Pricing and Policy

    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:spr:series:v:3:y:2012:i:4:p:457-473. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.