Description:
This paper provides the first evidence showing that air pollution can reduce lifethreatening risky behaviors. We study the impact of air pollution on traffic accidents caused by risky driving behaviors, using the universe of accident records and highresolution air quality data of Taiwan from 2009 to 2015. We find that air pollution significantly decreases accidents with casualties caused by driver violations, and that this effect is nonlinear. In addition, our results suggest that air pollution primarily reduces road users’ risky behaviors through visual channels rather than through the respiratory system