Tolling and Economic Efficiency: Do the Pecuniary Benefits Exceed the Safety Costs?

This article uses crash data, highway classification, and traffic statistics to estimate the crash cost per truck vehicle mile traveled (VMT) from 2002 to 2006 for trucks that diverted from the Ohio Turnpike to avoid paying higher toll rates imposed by the Ohio Turnpike Authority. The data show that the truck crash cost per VMT is lowest for rural interstates such as the Turnpike and highest for the roads to which truck traffic diverted. Using the elasticity of demand for truck use of toll roads, we then estimate that the crash cost of trucks diverted from the Ohio Turnpike to other roads during 2004 at more than US$38 million, which far exceeds the revenue benefit. The article discusses implications of these results for road infrastructure pricing.