Quantifying External Costs of Vehicle Use: Evidence from America’s Top-Selling Light-Duty Models

Vehicle externality costs include emissions of greenhouse and other gases (affecting global warming and human health), crash costs (imposed on crash partners), roadway congestion, and space consumption, among others. These five sources of external costs by vehicle make and model were estimated for the top-selling passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the U.S. Among these external costs, those associated with crashes and congestion are estimated to be the most practically significant. Because of this, the worst offenders (in terms of highest external costs) were found to be pickups. If crash costs are removed from the comparisons, the worst offenders tend to be the Hummer H2, the Chevrolet Suburban, and the Dodge Durango, all characterized as SUVs.

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