Road fatalities, modal split and Smeed's Law

Abstract

The international variation in road death rates is investigated using cross-sectional data for 19 countries. It is proposed that road fatality rates are influenced by modal substitution between relatively vulnerable trips by foot and bicycle, and motorized journeys which have a smaller exposure to risk of fatal injury. Although available data do not permit a direct test of this hypothesis, regression results suggest that motor vehicle use is inversely associated with death on the roads across OECD countries all else equal.