The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Road Mortality: An Exploratory Approach for some Countries In Europe

Abstract

In some European countries, the economic crisis seems to have resulted in a relevant improvement of their road safety level. As a consequence, a worsening of these levels is to be expected once the period of economic crisis comes to an end, and this is a major concern for the countries that are severely affected by the crisis. For all bodies which analyse road safety trends at international level ((the European Road Safety Observatory, the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) group from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Developmen (OCDE)) - not only over the past but also in the future -, this is a major challenge. This exploratory approach focuses on several countries in Europe including France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The objective was to highlight how the changes in road mortality are related to the changes in economic variables. A comparative analysis of their development has been carried out, and the relationship between the number of road fatalities and two key economic variables, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the unemployment rate, has been investigated.