Marginale eksterne ulykkesomkostninger og personbilers vægt

Abstract:

Accidents are generally considered one of the mayor social costs associated with car traffic. The marginal external accident costs of car use are traditionally calculated for different categories of road users (e.g. passenger cars, vans and trucks) but without distinguishing between the weights of vehicles in each category. However, it is widely recognized that vehicle weight is important for the severity of an accident. The purpose of the paper is to estimate the importance of vehicle weight for the marginal external accident cost of passenger car use. The analysis is based on data from the Danish Road Directorate register for traffic accidents covering all police reported accident in Denmark in the period 2003-11. Data on traffic accidents are merged with information on car characteristics from the Danish motor vehicle register and a large number of socioeconomic characteristics of the involved car drivers from administrative registers.

The empirical analysis shows that heavy passenger cars are more dangerous to the occupants in other cars when collision occurs. An increase in the car weight by 100 kg increase the baseline fatality risk for the driver and passenger in another car by 11 pct. and the risk of a severe injury with 6 pct. given a collision occurs. It is found that the total marginal external accident cost for a small car (750 kg) is 0.07 DKR per kilometer. This value increase with car weight and the marginal external accident cost for a large car (1,750 kg) is about 0.11 DKR per kilometer. However, even though vehicle weight is important for the external accidents cost, the location of driving is far more important due to higher accident probabilities in urban areas as compared to rural areas. For a car of average weight the marginal external accident costs per kilometer is 8 times higher in urban areas as compared to rural areas.