The economic impact of motor vehicle crashes, 2000

Annals of Emergency Medicine

In 2010, there were 32,999 people killed, 3.9 million were injured, and 24 million vehicles were damaged in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. The economic costs of these crashes totaled $277 billion. Included in these losses are lost productivity, medical costs, legal and court costs, emergency service costs (EMS), insurance administration costs, congestion costs, property damage, and workplace losses. The $277 billion cost of motor vehicle crashes represents the equivalent of nearly $897 for each of the 308.7 million people living in the United States, and 1.9 percent of the $14.96 trillion real U.S. Gross Domestic Product for 2010. These figures include both police-reported and unreported crashes. When quality of life valuations are considered, the total value of societal harm from motor vehicle crashes in 2010 was $871 billion. Lost market and household productivity accounted for $93 billion of the total $277 billion economic costs, while property damage accounted for $76 billion. Medical expenses totaled $35 billion. Congestion caused by crashes, including travel delay, excess fuel consumption, greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants accounted for $28 billion. Each fatality resulted in an average discounted lifetime cost of $1.4 million. Public revenues paid for roughly 9 percent of all motor vehicle crash costs, costing tax payers $24 billion in 2010, the equivalent of over $200 in added taxes for every household in the United States. Alcohol involved crashes accounted for $59 billion or 21 percent of all economic costs, and 84 percent of these costs occurred in crashes where a driver or non-occupant had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter or greater. Alcohol was the cause of the crash in roughly 82 percent of these cases, causing $49 billion in costs. Crashes in which alcohol levels are BAC of .08 or higher are responsible for over 90 percent of the economic costs and societal harm that occurs in crashes attributable to alcohol use. Crashes in which police indicate that at least one driver was exceeding the legal speed limit or driving too fast for conditions cost $59 billion in 2010. Seat belt use prevented 12,500 fatalities, 308,000 serious injuries, and $69 billion in injury related costs in 2010, but the failure of a substantial portion of the driving population to buckle up caused 3,350 unnecessary fatalities, 54,300 serious injuries, and cost society $14 billion in easily preventable injury related costs. Crashes in which at least one driver was identified as being distracted cost $46 billion in 2010. The report also includes data on the costs associated with motorcycle crashes, failure to wear motorcycle helmets, pedestrian crash, bicyclist crashes, and numerous different roadway designation crashes.

In 2010, there were 32,999 people killed, 3.9 million were injured, and 24 million vehicles were damaged in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. The economic costs of these crashes totaled $277 billion. Included in these losses are lost productivity, medical costs, legal and court costs, emergency service costs (EMS), insurance administration costs, congestion costs, property damage, and workplace losses. The $277 billion cost of motor vehicle crashes represents the equivalent of nearly $897 for each of the 308.7 million people living in the United States, and 1.9 percent of the $14.96 trillion real U.S. Gross Domestic Product for 2010. These figures include both police-reported and unreported crashes. When quality of life valuations are considered, the total value of societal harm from motor vehicle crashes in 2010 was $871 billion. Lost market and household productivity accounted for $93 billion of the total $277 billion economic costs, while property damage accounted for $76 billion. Medical expenses totaled $35 billion. Congestion caused by crashes, including travel delay, excess fuel consumption, greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants accounted for $28 billion. Each fatality resulted in an average discounted lifetime cost of $1.4 million. Public revenues paid for roughly 9 percent of all motor vehicle crash costs, costing tax payers $24 billion in 2010, the equivalent of over $200 in added taxes for every household in the United States. Alcohol involved crashes accounted for $59 billion or 21 percent of all economic costs, and 84 percent of these costs occurred in crashes where a driver or non-occupant had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter or greater. Alcohol was the cause of the crash in roughly 82 percent of these cases, causing $49 billion in costs. Crashes in which alcohol levels are BAC of .08 or higher are responsible for over 90 percent of the economic costs and societal harm that occurs in crashes attributable to alcohol use. Crashes in which police indicate that at least one driver was exceeding the legal speed limit or driving too fast for conditions cost $59 billion in 2010. Seat belt use prevented 12,500 fatalities, 308,000 serious injuries, and $69 billion in injury related costs in 2010, but the failure of a substantial portion of the driving population to buckle up caused 3,350 unnecessary fatalities, 54,300 serious injuries, and cost society $14 billion in easily preventable injury related costs. Crashes in which at least one driver was identified as being distracted cost $46 billion in 2010. The report also includes data on the costs associated with motorcycle crashes, failure to wear motorcycle helmets, pedestrian crash, bicyclist crashes, and numerous different roadway designation crashes.

2008

In 2005, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reported 2,448,017 deaths in the U.S., of these 43,510 happened in motor vehicle crashes (Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FARS). Every year, around 42,700 people are killed in motor vehicle crashes (Table 1.1), which occur in roughly 38,400 fatal crashes (Table 1.2).Several factors lead to the occurrence of fatal automobile crashes. These factors fall into three general classifications: the driver, the road, or the vehicle, and in some extreme cases, a combination of them. Mostly, the driver is the source in the form of behavior, driving error, or physical condition. Often it is assumed that driver behavior is shaped by age, sex, and marital status, among other characteristics. In recent years, there has been a broad variety of vehicle types, makes, and models to suit a diversity of needs. One prominent vehicle feature is vehicle body type, providing not only a trend in terms of sales but also some behavioral characterist...

Accident Analysis & Prevention, 1993

The comprehensive cost of U.S. motor vehicle crashes was almost $333 billion in 1988. Comprehensive costs add the value of lost quality of life to monetary costs. This paper estimates costs by injury severity for three severity classification systems. It also estimates the functional capacity loss and probability of permanent work-related disability resulting from nonfatal injury. Using only monetary costs in safety decision making inappropriately favors mobility over safety. Comprehensive costs are one appropriate choice. Another acceptable choice is to use years of functional capacity loss plus direct costs to perform cost-effectiveness analysis.

Annals of advances in automotive medicine / Annual Scientific Conference ... Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Scientific Conference, 2011

We estimated how much the Federal government and state/local government pay for different kinds of crashes in the United States. Government costs include reductions in an array of public services (emergency, incident management, vocational rehabilitation, coroner court processing of liability litigation), medical payments, social safety net assistance to the injured and their families, and taxes foregone because victims miss work. Government also pays when its employees crash while working and covers fringe benefits for crash-involved employees and their benefit-eligible dependents in non-work hours. We estimated government shares of crash costs by component. We applied those estimates to existing US Department of Transportation estimates of crash costs to society and employers. Government pays an estimated $35 billion annually because of crashes, an estimated 12.6% of the economic cost of crashes (Federal 7.1%, State/local 5.5%). Government bears a higher percentage of the monetary...

Transportation Research Record, 1998

When a truck and an automobile are involved in a crash, the harm to occupants tends to vary with the weight of the vehicles involved. In determining the appropriate level of government expenditures for traffic safety, costs in multivehicle crashes involving different vehicle types must be allocated between occupants and nonoccupants of a particular vehicle type. Four methods for allocating costs among different vehicle types are considered, corresponding to different perspectives, including that of occupants of a vehicle and that of society under different property right assignments. Costs based on the four allocation methods for the United States as a whole and per vehicle mile are also estimated. The allocation method was found to have large effects on the relative magnitude of costs.

International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 2006

American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2005

Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Motor Vehicle Collisions (MVCs) accounted for an economic cost of $242 billion in the United States in 2010. A significant portion (42%) was associated with factors considered for compensation estimatesmedical costs, lost earnings and reduced household productivity. This study proposes a methodology that accounts for these costs by using expected compensation costs (ECCs). Our approach differs from prior studies as we consider all injuries suffered by an individual in the MVC, rather than only the 'most severe' injury. We estimate ECCs for each injured occupant by linking the injuries suffered with guidelines on injury compensations, allowing for ECCs to be linked directly with collision factors. To demonstrate the ECC system, we conduct a cross-sectional mediation analysis to study the relationships between collisions and compensation. delta-V (the change in a vehicle's speed pre-and post-crash) remains a primary factor in the severity of MVCs and so it serves as a focal point in our study. We find that some collision factors influence compensation estimates because of the effects of delta-V, while others influence ECCs regardless of delta-V. The ECC system we introduce can mitigate litigation risk and highlight future approaches to road safety, as it bridges the gap between crash characteristics, injuries suffered, and economic damage. Our results support policy recommendations that promote seatbelt use and warn against alcohol-impaired driving, and support the proliferation of safety-enabled vehicles whose technology can mitigate the economic damage associated with detrimental crash types.

Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2004

This study provides the estimates of the costs of highway crashes involving large trucks by type of truck involved. These costs represent the present value of all costs over the victims' expected life span that result from a crash. They include medically related costs, emergency services costs, property damage costs, lost productivity, and the monetized value of the pain, suffering, and lost quality of life that a family experiences because of death or injury.