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Can Public Transportation Reduce Accidents? Evidence From The Introduction Of Late-Night Buses In Israeli Cities

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  • Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot

    (BGU)

Abstract

The notion that public transportation can mitigate accidents has been widely claimed, but to-date empirical evidence that supports this relationship in a causal manner is scarce. This paper presents results from difference-in-differences (DID) and triple differences (DDD) frameworks that exploit the introduction of late-night buses (night buses) into cities in Israel beginning in 2007. The preferred DDD specification utilizes spatial, temporal, and time-of-day variation in estimating the effect of night bus frequencies on accident outcomes. The results show a reduction in accidents involving young drivers in response to night buses, on the order of 37% in the mean metropolitan area served by night buses. Injuries resulting from these accidents also decrease by 24%. Results are robust to alternative DDD estimations, which utilize variation in the day of the week that night buses operate. Overall, the results suggest that public transportation - and in particular late-night public transportation - can entail substantial benefits in terms of road accident reductions.
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  • Shirlee Lichtman-Sadot, 2018. "Can Public Transportation Reduce Accidents? Evidence From The Introduction Of Late-Night Buses In Israeli Cities," Working Papers 1803, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1803
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Muehlenbachs, Lucija & Staubli, Stefan & Chu, Ziyan, 2021. "The accident externality from trucking: Evidence from shale gas development," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Di Zhou & Xiaoyu Liang & Ye Zhou & Kai Tang, 2020. "Does Emission Trading Boost Carbon Productivity? Evidence from China’s Pilot Emission Trading Scheme," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-16, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public transportation; Road accidents; Risky behavior; Drunk driving;
    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
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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