Citation

Shr YHJ, Yang FA. Health Econ. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/hec.4667

PMID

36879473

Abstract

This study investigates how exposure to riskier environments influences risky road behaviors, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment. Utilizing administrative individual traffic violation records from Taipei, where neither mandatory lockdown nor mobility restrictions were imposed, we find that pandemic-induced risk decreased speeding violations and that the effect was transitory. However, no significant changes were observed concerning violations with a minimal risk of casualties, such as illegal parking. These findings suggest that experiencing a higher level of life-threatening risk discourages risky behaviors concerning human life but has little spillover effect on those concerning only financial costs.

Keywords: CoViD-19-Road-Traffic

Language: en

Keywords

road safety; COVID-19; traffic violations; risk-taking behaviors; time-varying risk aversion