Why is it important to determine road crash costs?

Answer

First, the costs of road crashes provide insight into the extent of road safety as a social problem, and particularly in the socio-economic impact of road crashes. They can for example be seen as an indicator for the results of road safety policies, of course in addition to numbers of casualties and other indicators [24]. Information about the costs of road crashes is also commonly used in the preparation and evaluation of road safety policies, both at a national level, for example in the Strategic Plan Road Safety 2030 [25], and at the international level, for example in the Policy Orientations on Road Safety of the European Commission [26]. Furthermore, cost information makes it possible to compare costs of road crashes to costs in other policy sectors, in traffic and transport (environmental damage, congestion; also see the question How do the costs compare to other traffic-related costs?), as well as in other sectors, such as environmental policy, health care or other safety policy sectors. Moreover, information about the social costs gives insight into opportunities for cost savings and can be used to prioritize policy objectives. Finally, also on the level of road crash costs making international comparisons is useful, although this requires that the methods used to calculate the costs are harmonised to a greater extent. Also see the question How do costs in the Netherlands compare to costs in other countries?.

Secondly, information about the costs of road crashes is used in cost-benefit analyses (also see the question What are social cost-benefit analyses?). These use the costs per casualty or crash to express the road safety effect of policy measures as a monetary value. This value is then balanced against the cost of the measures.

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Part of fact sheet

Road crash costs

The social costs of road crashes in the Netherlands in 2020 are estimated at € 27 billion (between € 15 and € 36 billion). This is significantly Meer

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