Date of Award
Spring 5-2-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Monica Das
Second Advisor
Patrick Reilly
Abstract
This paper works to find the extent to which the quality of public transportation plays a role in vehicular accidents on football game days. To investigate this, traffic accident data was collected from two U.S. cities, Seattle and Denver, from the years 2010 through 2023. The data was consolidated to summing just the Sunday accidents. Three transit variables were added to highlight the public transportation quality, including the overall rating, the number of football stadium stops, and the average number of stops within an average city block. Football dummy variables and additional accident variables were included as well. The results show that, on an average Sunday afternoon, Seattle had 3.62 less accidents than Denver due to the rating of the public transit system, 1.81 less accidents than Denver due to how many transit stops were within the football stadiums, and 0.33 less accidents in Seattle than Denver due to the average number of transit stops within a city group. In addition to these findings, there is a significant, negative relationship between the rating of a city’s public transit system and number of accidents. There is also a decrease in the number of traffic accidents across both cities from non-game day to game day when alcohol is involved. Also, both cities show an increase in accidents when testing between a non-game day Sunday versus a game-day Sunday. These findings point to the need for cities to invest more in their public transportation systems, as it can help limit traffic accidents on game days and can create a public good beyond just football game days, but a safer form of transportation for all.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Schnitzer, Danny, "Football Games, Vehicular Accidents, and Public Transportation: The Impact that Public Transit Infrastructure Plays on Traffic Accidents post-Football Games." (2025). Economics Student Theses and Capstone Projects. 185.
https://creativematter.skidmore.edu/econ_studt_schol/185