  Air pollution has been linked to elevated levels of risk aversion. This paper
provides the first evidence showing that such effect reduces life-threatening
risky behaviors. We study the impact of air pollution on traffic accidents
caused by risky driving behaviors, using the universe of accident records and
high-resolution air quality data of Taiwan from 2009 to 2015. We find that air
pollution significantly decreases accidents caused by driver violations, and
that this effect is nonlinear. In addition, our results suggest that air
pollution primarily reduces road users' risky behaviors through visual channels
rather than through the respiratory system.
