The accident externality from trucking: Evidence from shale gas development

A heavy truck imposes an externality if its presence causes traffic accidents for which it is not held liable. We estimate the increase in accidents that occur when a truck is added to a road using quasi-experimental variation in truck routes of connecting shale gas wells in Pennsylvania. We find ev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Regional science and urban economics 2021-05, Vol.88, p.103630, Article 103630
Main Authors: Muehlenbachs, Lucija, Staubli, Stefan, Chu, Ziyan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automobile insurance
Externality
Hydraulic fracturing
Insurance premiums
Occupational accidents
Premiums
Quasi-experimental methods
Road accidents
Studies
Traffic accidents & safety
Truck drivers
Trucking
Trucking industry
Trucks
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Summary:A heavy truck imposes an externality if its presence causes traffic accidents for which it is not held liable. We estimate the increase in accidents that occur when a truck is added to a road using quasi-experimental variation in truck routes of connecting shale gas wells in Pennsylvania. We find evidence that adding a truck to a road is relatively safe for the truck itself, but less so for other cars on the road: an additional truck leads to an increase in the number of car-only accidents. However, these additional accidents are not more severe. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that the accident externality of trucking reverberates to even more road users through higher car insurance premiums. •We study the impact of heavy trucks on traffic accidents and insurance premiums.•We isolate the impact of a heavy truck using truck routes used in shale gas development in Pennsylvania.•We find that just the presence of a heavy truck leads to more car accidents.•Trucking externalities are borne by all drivers: more trucks also lead to higher car insurance premiums.
ISSN:0166-0462
1879-2308
DOI:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103630