On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications

Recently, traffic diversion effects induced by tolling have increasingly been attracting attention, since interurban road charging schemes are becoming more widespread in Europe. However, less attention has been paid to unintended spillover effects concerning negative road safety outcomes, caused by...

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Main Authors: Patrick Baumgarten, Jens Middelkamp
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2015-04-01
Series:European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research
Online Access:https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/ejtir/article/view/3066
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author Patrick Baumgarten
Jens Middelkamp
author_facet Patrick Baumgarten
Jens Middelkamp
author_sort Patrick Baumgarten
collection DOAJ
description Recently, traffic diversion effects induced by tolling have increasingly been attracting attention, since interurban road charging schemes are becoming more widespread in Europe. However, less attention has been paid to unintended spillover effects concerning negative road safety outcomes, caused by traffic shifts to non-tolled adjacent secondary roads of inferior quality. This study introduces to the specifics of existing road pricing schemes in Europe, clarifies the characteristics of the German toll system and explores the relationship between toll implementation and road safety outcomes using regional German panel data for the period 2000-2010. To this end, we test different specifications using accident data, while controlling for transport-related and socioeconomic covariates. We find that the implementation of the heavy goods vehicle toll in 2005 has a negative impact on accident rates with damage to persons during our sample period. This finding is a valuable insight for policy makers, since the existence of a relationship between tolls, traffic diversion and road safety has important policy implications regarding the determination of optimal welfare-enhancing tolls.
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spelling doaj.art-d058a38ffdaa4f19a1d047767f8ce04c2023-12-02T10:29:41ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingEuropean Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research1567-71412015-04-0115210.18757/ejtir.2015.15.2.30662679On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implicationsPatrick Baumgarten0Jens Middelkamp1University of MünsterUniversity of MünsterRecently, traffic diversion effects induced by tolling have increasingly been attracting attention, since interurban road charging schemes are becoming more widespread in Europe. However, less attention has been paid to unintended spillover effects concerning negative road safety outcomes, caused by traffic shifts to non-tolled adjacent secondary roads of inferior quality. This study introduces to the specifics of existing road pricing schemes in Europe, clarifies the characteristics of the German toll system and explores the relationship between toll implementation and road safety outcomes using regional German panel data for the period 2000-2010. To this end, we test different specifications using accident data, while controlling for transport-related and socioeconomic covariates. We find that the implementation of the heavy goods vehicle toll in 2005 has a negative impact on accident rates with damage to persons during our sample period. This finding is a valuable insight for policy makers, since the existence of a relationship between tolls, traffic diversion and road safety has important policy implications regarding the determination of optimal welfare-enhancing tolls.https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/ejtir/article/view/3066
spellingShingle Patrick Baumgarten
Jens Middelkamp
On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications
European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research
title On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications
title_full On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications
title_fullStr On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications
title_full_unstemmed On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications
title_short On interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in Germany: Empirical findings and implications
title_sort on interurban road pricing schemes and the impacts of traffic diversion on road safety in germany empirical findings and implications
url https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/ejtir/article/view/3066
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