Abstract
The impact of gasoline price changes on traffic safety has received increasing attention in empirical studies. In this study, we use time geography to provide a theoretical framework for examining the effects of time-varying fluctuations in gasoline prices and their relationship to traffic safety in a case study of Mississippi from April 2004 to December 2010. Application of time geography theory suggests that gasoline prices act as one type of capability constraint of the space-time path. As gasoline prices increase (that is, as the capability constraint becomes stronger), we hypothesize traffic crash rates decrease, and they decrease more for groups for whom the constraint is stronger. The results corroborate the hypotheses and suggest that gasoline prices have stronger effects on reducing less severe crashes and negligible effects on reducing fatal crashes. Gasoline price effects on reducing crashes start at a 9-month lag, peak at a 12-month lag, and diminish after an 18-month lag.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Transport Geography |
| Volume | 28 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank Neal Feierabend, Sheena Gardner, and Lee Weiskopf for deriving traffic crash data as well as Arthur Huang, David Parrish, Ron Sennett, and Randy Ginn for assistance in providing other data for this study. Appreciation is extended to David Keeling and Andrew Goetz, the Editors, and three anonymous reviewers for their many helpful comments. This research was supported by a grant from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Mississippi Office of Public Safety (Award Number 11 K9 401-1).
Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Fatal crashes
- Gasoline prices
- Space-time path
- Time geography
- Traffic crashes
- Traffic safety
