The 'Arms Race' on American Roads: The Effect of Heavy Vehicles on Traffic Safety and the Failure of Liability Rules
The 'Arms Race' on American Roads: The Effect of Heavy Vehicles on Traffic Safety and the Failure of Liability Rules
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美国道路上的“军备竞赛”：重型车辆对交通安全的影响和责任规则的失效
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发表时间：
2002
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. White
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文献类型：
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作者：
M. White
司机们在美国道路上展开了一场“军备竞赛”，购买了越来越多的重型车辆，如SUV、货车和轻型卡车。家庭认为大型车辆在发生碰撞时可以为自己的乘员提供更好的保护，但这些车辆对小型车辆的乘员以及行人和骑自行车的人构成更大的危险。本文衡量了重型车辆的有益内部效应和负面外部效应。主要结果是，当驾驶员用轻型卡车取代轿车时，每年会额外发生 3,700 起涉及小型车辆乘员、行人和骑自行车者死亡的事故，而仅避免 1,400 起涉及轻型卡车乘员死亡的事故，即负面外部效应与正面内部效应的比率为 2 比 1。该论文认为，现有的交通法规或制度都没有强制重型车辆驾驶员考虑其负面外部影响。
Drivers have been running an 'arms race' on American roads by buying increasingly heavy vehicles such as SUVs, vans and light trucks. Families view large vehicles as providing better protection to their own occupants if a crash occurs, but these vehicles pose an increased danger to occupants of smaller vehicles and to pedestrians and bicyclists. This paper measures both the beneficial internal effect and the negative external effect of heavier vehicles. The main result is that when drivers replace cars with light trucks, 3,700 additional crashes per year involving fatalities of smaller vehicle occupants, pedestrians and bicyclists occur, while only 1,400 crashes involving fatalities of light truck occupants are avoided, i.e., the ratio of negative external effects to positive internal effects is 2« to 1. The paper argues that none of the existing traffic laws or institutions forces drivers of heavy vehicles to take account of their negative external effects.