The impact of ride-hailing services on urban road traffic fatalities in China

Although many studies have discussed the social impact of ride-hailing services, there is no consensus on whether ride-hailing services aggravate or alleviate road traffic fatalities. In particular, no research has deeply studied the relationship between ride-hailing services and road traffic fatalities in the Chinese context. Based on the panel data of 115 cities from 2005 to 2018, this study uses the different entry times of Didi Express and Didi Hitch to design a natural experiment. A multi-period differences-in-differences model is used to analyze the impact of Didi Express and Didi Hitch on road traffic fatalities. The results show that the entry of Didi Express significantly increases road traffic fatalities, but its impact decreases year by year. The entry of Didi Hitch has no significant impact on road traffic fatalities. Further analysis shows that the ride-hailing regulation effectively alleviates the impact of Didi Express on road traffic fatalities. These findings reveal that the increased numbers of on-road vehicles, engagement of unqualified drivers, and use of noncompliant vehicles may contribute to road traffic fatalities associated with Didi Express. Therefore, systematically promoting the enforcement of ride-hailing regulation is essential to mitigate road traffic fatalities.