Abstract
Does air pollution influence traffic safety? To answer this question, this paper empirically investigates the nonlinear impact of air pollution on traffic mortality by employing a balanced panel dataset for 102 Chinese cities covering 2014–2018. Also, this paper then discusses the nonlinear mediation effects of air pollution on traffic safety to test the influential mechanism between these two variables. The following three conclusions are obtained. First, air pollution has a nonlinear impact on traffic safety: a 1 μg/m3 increase in the average annual concentration of PM2.5 could lead to a 0.0439 increase in traffic fatalities per one million people, but the negative impact of PM2.5 on air pollution will be reduced in the long run. Second, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the impact of air pollution on traffic safety in northern cities of China, cities with lower levels of economic development is more serious than that in other cities. Third, air pollution may affect traffic safety by reducing transport efficiency and affecting drivers’ physiological status and cognitive abilities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data will be made available upon request.
Notes
Available at https://www.aqistudy.cn/historydata/
References
Adeoye AM, Fakunle A, Aderonmu O, Tayo B (2020) Short-term exposure to household air pollution and risk of hypertension among adults: A pilot study in Ibadan. J Health Environ Res 62:37–43. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200602.12
Ali Q, Yaseen MR, Khan MTI (2020) The impact of temperature, rainfall, and health worker density index on road traffic fatalities in Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:19510–19529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08233-1
Amato-Lourenço LF, dos Santos Galvão L, de Weger LA, Hiemstra PS, Vijver MG, Mauad T (2020) An emerging class of air pollutants: Potential effects of microplastics to respiratory human health? Sci Total Environ. 749:141676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141676
Aney MS, Ho C (2019) Deadlier road accidents? Traffic safety regulations and heterogeneous motorists’ behavior. Reg Sci Urban Econ 77:155–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2019.04.003
Babić D, Dijanić H, Jakob L, Babić D, Garcia-Garzon E (2020) Driver eye movements in relation to unfamiliar traffic signs: An eye tracking study. Appl Ergonomics 89:103191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103191
Barros CP, Managi S (2016) French nuclear electricity plants, productivity, and air pollution. Energy Sour Part B Econ Plan Policy 118:718–724. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2012.723796
Bowe B, Xie Y, Li T, Yan Y, Xian H, Al-Aly Z (2018) The 2016 global and national burden of diabetes mellitus attributable to PM2·5 air pollution. Lancet Planetary Health 27:301–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-51961830140-2
Calvo-Poyo F, de Oña J, Garach Morcillo L, Navarro-Moreno J (2020) Influence of wider longitudinal road markings on vehicle speeds in two-lane rural highways. Sustainability 1220. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208305
Chen SY, Chen DK (2018) Air pollution, government regulations and high-quality economic development. Econ Res J 532:15
Chen YY, Li XN, Sun ZY, Xiong J (2018) Identification method of factors affecting traffic accident based on Logistics. Technol Econ Areas Commun 5:1–5+11. https://doi.org/10.19348/j.cnki.issn1008-5696.2018.05.001
Chen QY, Lin ST, Zhang X (2020) The effect of China’s incentive policies for technological innovation, incentivizing quantity or quality. China Industrial Econ 4:79–96
Chen Y, Ebenstein A, Li H et al (2013) Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China’s Huai River policy. Proc Nat Acad Sci US 110(32):12936–12941
Costa Á, Markellos RN (1997) Evaluating public transport efficiency with neural network models. Transportation Res Part C Emerg Technol 55:301–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-090X9700017-X
Cui XX (2018) Study on the influence factors of road traffic accidents and their severity. Dissertation, Dalian University of Technology
Ding L, Fang XJ, Chen KL (2021) The impact of PM25 pollution on residents’ health and economic loss accounting in China. Econ Geogr 4107:82–92. https://doi.org/10.15957/j.cnki.jjdl.2021.07.009
Driscoll JC, Kraay AC (1998) Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent panel data. Rev Econ Stat 804:549–560. https://doi.org/10.1162/003465398557825
Du XY, Cheng WY, Liu B, Wang ZJ, Cheng L (2016) The prediction and attesting factors analysis of road traffic accidents in Anhui province. Mathematics Pract Theory 4601:70–76
Fu S, Viard VB, Zhang P (2021) Air pollution and manufacturing firm productivity: nationwide estimates for China. Econ J 131(640):3241–3273. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab033
Fuks KB, Weinmayr G, Basagaña X, Gruzieva O, Hampel R, Oftedal B, Hoffmann B (2017) Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and traffic noise and incident hypertension in seven cohorts of the European study of cohorts for air pollution effects ESCAPE. Eur Heart J 3813:983–990. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehw413
Gao HL, Deng CJ, Wang WD, Fan SS (2019) Human factors analysis of road traffic accident drivers based on national vehicle accident in-depth investigation system. Sci Technol Eng 1919:342–348
Guo YS, Yuna W, Fu R (2006) Characteristic analysis of road traffic safety evaluation index. J Highway Transportation Res Dev 05:102–105
Hu LW, Li YP (2014) Impact analysis on typical transport facilities to causes of road traffic accidents. J Wuhan Univ Technol Transportation Sci Eng 3801:98–102. https://doi.org/10.3963/j.issn.2095-3844.2014.01.021
Huang K, Ding K, Yang XJ, Hu CY, Jiang W, Hua XG, Zhang XJ (2020) Association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants and the risk of tuberculosis outpatient visits: A time-series study in Hefei. China. Environ. Res. 184:109343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109343
Hüls A, Vierkötter A, Sugiri D, Abramson MJ, Ranft U, Krämer U, Schikowski T (2018) The role of air pollution and lung function in cognitive impairment. Eur Respir J 51(2):1701963. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.01963-2017
Institute of Highway Science of Ministry of Communications (2004) Research on applied technology of highway traffic safety. Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic of China, Beijing
Koichiro I, Shuang Z (2020) Willingness to pay for clean air: Evidence from air purifier markets in China. J Polit Econ 1285:1627–1672. https://doi.org/10.1086/705554
Li HY, Shao M (2017) City size, skill differences, and wage income. Manag World. 287(08):36–51. https://doi.org/10.19744/j.cnki.11-1235/f.2017.08.006
Li WB, Zhang KX (2019) Influence of air pollution on enterprise productivity: Evidence from Chinese industrial enterprises. Manag. World. 3510:95–112+119. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1002-5502.2019.10.009
Liu HH, Jiao WN (2022) State owned equity participation and insufficient investment in private enterprises: a dual perspective based on resource and governance effects. Econ Manag 44(08):76–94. https://doi.org/10.19616/j.cnki.bmj.2022.08.005
Luo YG, Yang JY, Chen SQ (2019) Air pollution, human capital flow and innovative vitality: Evidence from Individual Patent Inventions. China Ind Econ 10:99–117
Mao LZ, Duan LR, Mao ER (2007) International comparison analysis on road traffic safety factors. J Transportation Syst Eng Inf Technol 3:111–117. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009-6744.2007.03.020
Qin CL, Liu CQ (2010) Analysis of characters of traffic accidents based on road factors. Technol Econ Areas Commun 1201:14–17. https://doi.org/10.19348/j.cnki.issn1008-5696.2010.01.005
Qiu Y, Yang F-A, Lai W (2019) The impact of indoor air pollution on health outcomes and cognitive abilities, empirical evidence from China. Pop Environ 404:388–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-019-00317-6
Ren Y, Peng HX (2013) Factors affecting China traffic accident casualties: An empirical study. Forecasting 3203:1–7
Sager L (2019) Estimating the effect of air pollution on road safety using atmospheric temperature inversions. J Environ Econ Manag 98:102250
Schlenker W, Walker WR (2016) Airports, air pollution, and contemporaneous health. Rev Econ Stud 832:768–809. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdv043
Scuffham PA (2003) Economic factors and traffic crashes in New Zealand. Appl Econ 352:179–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/0003684022000017566
Shi D, Liu Z, Fu J, Yu H (2022) The impact of drivers’ short-term exposure to air pollution on traffic deaths. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(40):61323–61333
Shr Y-H, Hsu W, Hwang B-F, Jung C-R (2023) Air quality and risky behaviors on roads. J Environ Econ Manag 118:102786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102786
Sun LL, Wu Q, Zhao J et al (2018) Empirical study on the factors influencing traffic accidents in China from 2004 to 2015. J. Southwest Univ. (Natural Sci Edi) 40(11):112–118. https://doi.org/10.13718/j.cnki.xdzk.2018.11.016
Sun WZ, Zhang XN, Zheng SQ (2019a) Air pollution and spatial mobility of labor force, Study on the migrants’ job location choice. Econ Res J 5411:102–117
Sun CW, Luo Y, Yao X (2019b) Traffic infrastructure and urban air pollution: Empirical evidence from China. Econ Res J 54(08):136–151
Wan Y, Li Y, Liu C, Li Z (2020) Is traffic accident related to air pollution? A case report from an island of Taihu Lake, China. Atmos Pollut Res 115:1028–1033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2020.02.018
Wang M (2011) An analysis of the comprehensive link between the traffic safety of roads and the influential elements of the social economy. Manag World 03:178–179
Wang L, Liu XF, Xiong Y (2019) Central Environmental Protection Inspector and Air Pollution Governance——An Empirical Analysis Based on Micro-panel Data of Prefecture-level Cities. China Ind Econ 379(10):5–22
Wang T, Wang Y, Cui N (2022) Traffic costs of air pollution: the effect of PM25 on traffic violation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(48):72699–72717. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20790-1
Wen ZL, Ye BJ (2014) Analyses of mediating effects, The development of methods and models. Adv Psychol Sci 2205:731–745
Wu XP, Gao M, Zeng LT (2018) Air pollution and economic growth: Empirical evidence from a semi-parametric spatial model. Statistical Res. 3508:82–93. https://doi.org/10.19343/j.cnki.11-1302/c.2018.08.008
Xie Y, Dai H, Dong H, Hanaoka T, Masui T (2016) Economic impacts from PM2.5 pollution-related health effects in China: A provincial-level analysis. Environ Sci Technol 509:4836–4843. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05576
Zhang LL, Wu W, Liu BQ (2017) Evaluation and analysis of highway transportation efficiency in the Yangtze River Delta based on DEA-Malmquist. J Univ Chinese Acad Sci 3406:712–718. https://doi.org/10.7523/j.issn.2095-6134.2017.06.008
Zhou YW (2018) Measurement of highway transportation efficiency in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Statist Decis 3419:113–116. https://doi.org/10.13546/j.cnki.tjyjc.2018.19.026
Funding
The authors acknowledge financial support from the General Project of National Philosophy and Social Sciences Foundation in 2022: Driving effects, potential impacts and coordinating pathways of the forcing mechanism from China's "dual carbon" targets on its high-quality economic development [grant number: 22BJY127].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Feng Wang: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Ruiqi Wang: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing–original draft, Writing–review & editing, Supervision, Validation. Mao Yan: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing–original draft. Jingfei Zhao: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing–original draft. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, F., Wang, R., Yan, M. et al. Does air pollution affect traffic safety? Evidence from cities in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 88998–89011 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28560-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28560-3