@article{ref1,
title="The causal effect of wrong-hand drive vehicles on road safety",
journal="Economics of transportation",
year="2017",
author="Roesel, Felix",
volume="11-12",
number="",
pages="15-22",
abstract="Left-hand drive (LHD) vehicles share higher road accident risks under left-hand traffic because of blind spot areas. Due to low import prices, the number of wrong-hand drive vehicles skyrockets in emerging countries like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. I identify the causal effect of wrong-hand drive vehicles on road safety employing a new &quot;backward version&quot; of the synthetic control method. Sweden switched from left-hand to right-hand traffic in 1967. Before 1967, however, almost all Swedish vehicles were LHD for reasons of international trade and Swedish customer demand. I match on accident figures in the period after 1967, when both Sweden and other European countries drove on the right and used LHD vehicles. <br><br>RESULTS show that right-hand traffic decreased road fatality, injury and accident risk in Sweden by approximately 30%. An earlier switch would have saved more than 4000 lives between 1953 and 1966.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2212-0122",
doi="10.1016/j.ecotra.2017.10.002",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecotra.2017.10.002"
}