Can Air Pollution Save Lives? Air Quality and Risky Behaviors on Roads

Air pollution has been linked to elevated levels of risk aversion. This paper provides the first evidence showing that such effect reduces life-threatening risky behaviors. We study the impact of air pollution on traffic accidents caused by risky driving behaviors, using the universe of accident rec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2021-12
Main Authors: Hsu, Wen, Bing-Fang, Hwang, Chau-Ren, Jung, Yau-Huo, Jimmy Shr
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Air quality
Driver behavior
Outdoor air quality
Respiratory system
Risk levels
Traffic accidents
Traffic safety
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Summary:Air pollution has been linked to elevated levels of risk aversion. This paper provides the first evidence showing that such effect reduces life-threatening risky behaviors. We study the impact of air pollution on traffic accidents caused by risky driving behaviors, using the universe of accident records and high-resolution air quality data of Taiwan from 2009 to 2015. We find that air pollution significantly decreases accidents caused by driver violations, and that this effect is nonlinear. In addition, our results suggest that air pollution primarily reduces road users' risky behaviors through visual channels rather than through the respiratory system.
ISSN:2331-8422