Fuel prices and road accident outcomes in New Zealand
Date
2019
Authors
Best, Rohan
Burke, Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
New Zealand Economic Papers
Abstract
Recent years have seen a spike in New Zealand’s road death toll, a phenomenon also seen in some other countries such as Australia. This paper analyses the short-run impact of fuel prices on road accident outcomes in New Zealand, including the numbers of road deaths, accidents, and injuries. Using data for the period 1989–2017, we find a negative relationship between fuel prices and key road-risk outcome variables, including the number of road deaths. There are similar results for models in levels and first differences. The number of serious injuries to cyclists tends to increase when fuel prices are high, however. Lower fuel prices appear to have contributed to New Zealand’s recent uptick in road accidents, pushing against the long-term trend of improved road safety.
Description
Keywords
Fuel price, Road accident death, Road accident injury
Citation
Best, Rohan and Burke, Paul J. 2019. ‘Fuel prices and road accident outcomes in New Zealand.’ New Zealand Economic Papers 53(2), 109–124.
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Source
New Zealand Economic Papers
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
Restricted until
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