Communications - Scientific Letters of the University of Zilina 2026, 28(2):A32-A47 | DOI: 10.26552/com.C.2026.023

Economic and Infrastructure Determinants of Road Traffic Fatalities: Panel Evidence from the Visegrad Countries

Adela Poliaková ORCID...1, Eva Nedeliaková ORCID...1, Piotr Gorzelańczyk ORCID...2, Jakub Malik ORCID...1, *
1 University of Zilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Zilina, Slovakia
2 Stanislaw Staszic State University of Applied Sciences in Pila, Faculty of Transport, Pila, Poland

In this study are analysed the determinants of road traffic fatalities in the Visegrad Group countries during 2000-2024, using a balanced panel and fixed-effects models with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors. The results show that the higher motorization and a longer high-standard road network are associated with lower fatalities. By contrast, the GDP per capita and unemployment increase fatalities in the baseline model, although these effects are sensitive to alternative specifications. Public expenditure on road infrastructure has no robust immediate effect, with only limited evidence of delayed benefits. Overall, the findings suggest that the road safety depends not only on economic growth, but on the quality and structure of infrastructure development, as well.

Keywords: road safety, traffic fatalities, panel regression analysis, macroeconomic determinants, motorization
Grants and funding:

The paper was supported by the KEGA Agency, Grant No. 034ZU-4/2025 „Innovative Project Management Education for Sustainable and Intelligent Transport in the EU in line with Industry 5.0“ at the Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, University of Zilina.

Conflicts of interest:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Received: January 12, 2026; Accepted: March 31, 2026; Prepublished online: April 17, 2026; Published: April 24, 2026  Show citation

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Poliaková, A., Nedeliaková, E., Gorzelańczyk, P., & Malik, J. (2026). Economic and Infrastructure Determinants of Road Traffic Fatalities: Panel Evidence from the Visegrad Countries. Communications - Scientific Letters of the University of Zilina, 28(2), A32-47. doi: 10.26552/com.C.2026.023
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