Corruption, Automobility Cultures, and Road Traffic Deaths: The Perfect Storm in Rapidly Motorizing Countries?

Abstract

This paper explores the hitherto neglected combined contribution of automobility cultures and corruption to prevailing death and injury rates from road traffic, with an emphasis on developing countries. Automobility cultures are argued to be crucial to real-world death and injury rates. The paper then argues that indices of public corruption may be taken as a more general proxy for the extent of traffic rule observance and risky behaviours by all classes of road user. Data on relative corruption at the national level are compared with data on road traffic deaths—both reported and adjusted. The latter seek to account for potential underreporting and definitional differences. The paper concludes that policy needs to be sensitized to local cultures, and to extend beyond issues related to the engineering of cars or infrastructures if social attitudes are to be changed, and the rate of deaths and injuries reduced.