Researchers have found that increases in fuel prices result in fewer fatalities on the road. Image: Flickr
Fuel subsidies in countries such as Venezuela and Indonesia are fuelling high road death rates, and around 35,000 road deaths could be avoided each year by the removal of global fuel subsidies, a new study from The Australian National University (ANU) has found. The study, co-authored by ANU Crawford School's Dr Paul Burke and Dr Shuhei Nishitateno, used data for 144 countries from 1991-2010 to examine how fuel price changes affect road safety. The researchers found that increases in fuel prices result in fewer fatalities on the road. "Higher fuel prices see people drive less, which flows on to a reduction in road deaths. Our study is the first to show this for a large international sample of countries," Dr Burke said. The study has important implications for fuel pricing policies. "Some countries maintain large subsidies for petrol use.
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