Want to reduce the number of traffic accidents and automobile fatalities? Cracking down on drunk driving, enforcing seatbelt usage, installing air bags and banning texting while driving all have proven useful. But, while the incidence of traffic fatalities has declined from five per year in 1960 to two per year in 2000, the total number of fatalities has barely budged because Americans are driving so much more, says Todd Litman with the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in a recent paper, “Pricing for Traffic Safety.”
Pricing transportation so that drivers directly pay for the costs associated with their automobile travel can be justified on economic grounds, contends Litman. A major side benefit, rarely mentioned by pricing advocates, is that reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled also cuts the number of automobile accidents as well.
VDOT take notice!
