Citation

Nghiem HS, Connelly LB, Gargett S. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2013; 52: 162-170.

Affiliation

Centre of National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine (CONROD), The University of Queensland, Herston, QLD 4029, Australia. Electronic address: h.nghiem@uq.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2012.12.011

PMID

23333697

Abstract

This article examines the trends of road traffic crash (RTC) fatality rates in OECD countries over the past four decades. Based on recent developments in the economic growth literature we propose and test the hypothesis that RTC fatality rates initially increase with economic development, peak, and then gradually decrease. The theory predicts that, as a result, the RTC fatality rates of different countries will tend to converge over time. Our results for the period 1961-2007 reveal no evidence of the convergence of RTC fatality rates across the OECD as a whole for that time period. Nevertheless, there is evidence of convergence among sub-groups of countries. This evidence may assist policymakers as an additional way of benchmarking their country's performance against that of its peers and to identify the next-closest peer in country sub-groups with superior road safety performance.

Language: en