The value of road safety

In 1988, the UK Department of Transport (DoT) effected a major change in the method used to value the prevention of fatal casualties. A valuation based on Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) replaced the method which had been used since 1968, which was based on loss of output, medical costs and an estimate of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of transport economics and policy 1994-01, Vol.28 (1), p.45
Main Authors: O Reilly, Deirdre, Hopkin, Jean, Loomes, Graham, Jones-Lee, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accident prevention
Cost analysis
Costs
Methods
Studies
Traffic accidents & safety
Transportation economics
Valuation
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Summary:In 1988, the UK Department of Transport (DoT) effected a major change in the method used to value the prevention of fatal casualties. A valuation based on Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) replaced the method which had been used since 1968, which was based on loss of output, medical costs and an estimate of human costs. Using the new approach, direct economic costs are added to the WTP valuation to produce a total value of preventing a fatality. The revised WTP methodology was considered to be theoretically superior and more consistent with the principles of Cost Benefit Analysis used by the DoT, and in line with current thinking in road safety world-wide. In 1992 prices, the DoT value of preventing a serious non-fatal road injury has been set at L74,480, inclusive of avoided direct economic costs.
ISSN:0022-5258
1754-5951