Traffic accidents and the London congestion charge

Abstract

In a rare effort to internalize congestion costs, London recently instituted charges for traveling by car to the central city during peak hours. Although the theoretical influence on the number and severity of traffic accidents is ambiguous, we show that the policy generated a substantial reduction in both accidents and fatalities in the charged area and hours. At the same time, the spatial, temporal and vehicle specific nature of the charge may cause unintended substitutions as traffic and accidents shift to other proximate areas, times and to uncharged vehicles. We demonstrate that, to the contrary, the congestion charge reduced accidents and fatalities in adjacent areas, times and for uncharged vehicles. These results are consistent with the government's objective to use the congestion charge to more broadly promote public transport and change driving habits. JEL Codes: I18, R48, H27The authors thank the Melvin Lurie Memorial Fund at UWM which allowed Heywood and Navarro to work together in the fall of 2013. The authors thank Domingo Perez-Ximenez de Embun for helpful comments.

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