A radical change in traffic law: effects on fatalities in the Czech Republic

Montag, Josef

doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdu005

Cited by 26 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…As a proxy for the severity of the penal/legal system in a country, we include an index variable that takes the value zero if no life imprisonment sentence may be applied, the value one if such a sentence is revisable and the value 2 if the indefinite sentence is not revisable. Our expectation is that the coefficient associated with this variable will be negative, following prior results of e.g., Castillo-Manzano et al (2011), Liberatti et al (2001) Montag, 2014or Sen (2001 regarding the beneficial effects of stricter punishment applied to traffic violators, specifically on road safety outcomes. Indeed, the traffic fatality rates may be lower in countries with more severe penal/legal/administrative systems as the penal systems may have a strong influence on the social behavior of citizens and drivers.…”

Section: Insert Table 1]mentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Following previous studies on road safety (Albalate, 2008;Castillo-Manzano & Castro-Nuño, 2012;Castillo-Manzano et al, 2013, 2014Deshapriya & Iwase, 1996;Eisenberg, 2003), we consider the influence of preventive policies such as legal blood alcohol limits, and include a dummy variable that takes a value of one for countries and periods where the maximum blood alcohol concentration allowed is lower than 0.5 g/L. Most EU28 countries have set the limit at 0.5 or lower, so we are able to test whether blood alcohol concentration rates lower than 0.5 are effective in reducing road traffic fatalities.…”

Section: Insert Table 1]mentioning

confidence: 86%

“…In this vein, we include the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator of the country's economic development (Castillo-Manzano et al, 2013, 2014García-Ferrer et al, 2007;Grimm & Treibich, 2012;Orsi et al, 2012).…”

Section: Institut De Recerca En Economia Aplicada Regional I Pública mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Special attention has been paid by authors such as Deshapriya & Iwase (1996) and Tay (2005) to the severity of sanctions as a deterrence mechanism to increase the individual's perceived risk of apprehension and punishment. In the road safety arena, stricter sanctions seem to achieve better and faster results if they are mainly determined by the legislature and administrative/judiciary system (i.e., the introduction of tougher jail sentences and punishments may reduce traffic violation rates, although for a limited period; see for example cases as varied as Castillo-Manzano et al, 2011 for Spain;Li et al, 2014 for Hong Kong;Liberatti et al, 2001 for Brazil;Montag, 2014 for the Czech Republic or Sen, 2001 for Canada). Therefore, in this paper we examine the nature of the most severe legal systems as determining factors of the level of EU28 road safety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are traffic violators criminals? Searching for answers in the experiences of European countries

2015

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Section: Insert Table 1]mentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Insert Table 1]mentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Institut De Recerca En Economia Aplicada Regional I Pública mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are traffic violators criminals? Searching for answers in the experiences of European countries

2015

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“…In addition to the environmental and economic perspectives, the intensive margin is also relevant for transportation safety, as lower speeds and a less aggressive style lead to fewer and less severe accidents (Aarts and van Schagen, 2006;van Benthem, 2015;Grabowski and Morrisey, 2006;Montag, 2014). 3 The existence of the intensive margin has two main implications relevant to the pollution production 'technology': (i) Total fuel consumption, and therefore CO 2 emissions, are affected by kilometers driven, vehicle efficiency, and the on-road fuel economy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The simple economics of motor vehicle pollution: A case for fuel tax

Montag

2015

Energy Policy

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The volume of pollution produced by an automobile is determined by driver's behavior along three margins: (i) vehicle selection, (ii) kilometers driven, and (iii) on-road fuel economy. The first two margins have been studied extensively, however the third has received scant attention. How significant is this 'intensive margin'? What would be the optimal policies when it is taken into account? The paper develops and analyzes a simple model of the technical and behavioral mechanisms that determine the volume emissions produced by a car. The results show that an optimal fuel tax would provide drivers with appropriate incentives along all three margins and that only public information is needed for a fuel tax to be set optimally. In contrast, an optimal distance tax would require private information. Lastly, relative to the optimal fuel tax, a simple uniform fuel tax is shown to be progressive. Thus, being already deployed worldwide, a uniform fuel tax is an attractive second-best policy. These findings should be accounted for when designing new mechanisms to alleviate motor vehicle pollution.

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Effectiveness of road safety interventions: An evidence and gap map

Goel,

Tiwari,

Varghese

et al. 2024

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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BackgroundRoad Traffic injuries (RTI) are among the top ten leading causes of death in the world resulting in 1.35 million deaths every year, about 93% of which occur in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Despite several global resolutions to reduce traffic injuries, they have continued to grow in many countries. Many high‐income countries have successfully reduced RTI by using a public health approach and implementing evidence‐based interventions. As many LMICs develop their highway infrastructure, adopting a similar scientific approach towards road safety is crucial. The evidence also needs to be evaluated to assess external validity because measures that have worked in high‐income countries may not translate equally well to other contexts. An evidence gap map for RTI is the first step towards understanding what evidence is available, from where, and the key gaps in knowledge.ObjectivesThe objective of this evidence gap map (EGM) is to identify existing evidence from all effectiveness studies and systematic reviews related to road safety interventions. In addition, the EGM identifies gaps in evidence where new primary studies and systematic reviews could add value. This will help direct future research and discussions based on systematic evidence towards the approaches and interventions which are most effective in the road safety sector. This could enable the generation of evidence for informing policy at global, regional or national levels.Search MethodsThe EGM includes systematic reviews and impact evaluations assessing the effect of interventions for RTI reported in academic databases, organization websites, and grey literature sources. The studies were searched up to December 2019.Selection CriteriaThe interventions were divided into five broad categories: (a) human factors (e.g., enforcement or road user education), (b) road design, infrastructure and traffic control, (c) legal and institutional framework, (d) post‐crash pre‐hospital care, and (e) vehicle factors (except car design for occupant protection) and protective devices. Included studies reported two primary outcomes: fatal crashes and non‐fatal injury crashes; and four intermediate outcomes: change in use of seat belts, change in use of helmets, change in speed, and change in alcohol/drug use. Studies were excluded if they did not report injury or fatality as one of the outcomes.Data Collection and AnalysisThe EGM is presented in the form of a matrix with two primary dimensions: interventions (rows) and outcomes (columns). Additional dimensions are country income groups, region, quality level for systematic reviews, type of study design used (e.g., case‐control), type of road user studied (e.g., pedestrian, cyclists), age groups, and road type. The EGM is available online where the matrix of interventions and outcomes can be filtered by one or more dimensions. The webpage includes a bibliography of the selected studies and titles and abstracts available for preview. Quality appraisal for systematic reviews was conducted using a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews, AMSTAR 2.Main ResultsThe EGM identified 1859 studies of which 322 were systematic reviews, 7 were protocol studies and 1530 were impact evaluations. Some studies included more than one intervention, outcome, study method, or study region. The studies were distributed among intervention categories as: human factors (n = 771), road design, infrastructure and traffic control (n = 661), legal and institutional framework (n = 424), post‐crash pre‐hospital care (n = 118) and vehicle factors and protective devices (n = 111). Fatal crashes as outcomes were reported in 1414 records and non‐fatal injury crashes in 1252 records. Among the four intermediate outcomes, speed was most commonly reported (n = 298) followed by alcohol (n = 206), use of seatbelts (n = 167), and use of helmets (n = 66). Ninety‐six percent of the studies were reported from high‐income countries (HIC), 4.5% from upper‐middle‐income countries, and only 1.4% from lower‐middle and low‐income countries. There were 25 systematic reviews of high quality, 4 of moderate quality, and 293 of low quality.Authors' ConclusionsThe EGM shows that the distribution of available road safety evidence is skewed across the world. A vast majority of the literature is from HICs. In contrast, only a small fraction of the literature reports on the many LMICs that are fast expanding their road infrastructure, experiencing rapid changes in traffic patterns, and witnessing growth in road injuries. This bias in literature explains why many interventions that are of high importance in the context of LMICs remain poorly studied. Besides, many interventions that have been tested only in HICs may not work equally effectively in LMICs. Another important finding was that a large majority of systematic reviews are of low quality. The scarcity of evidence on many important interventions and lack of good quality evidence‐synthesis have significant implications for future road safety research and practice in LMICs. The EGM presented here will help identify priority areas for researchers, while directing practitioners and policy makers towards proven interventions.

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A radical change in traffic law: effects on fatalities in the Czech Republic

Abstract: Tougher penalties have significant, but often short-lived effects. Weaker enforcement in the aftermath of such reforms may explain the absence of long-run effects.

Cited by 26 publications

References 25 publications

Are traffic violators criminals? Searching for answers in the experiences of European countries

Are traffic violators criminals? Searching for answers in the experiences of European countries

The simple economics of motor vehicle pollution: A case for fuel tax

Effectiveness of road safety interventions: An evidence and gap map

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