Approximately 15% of the overall costs of road crashes (4 billion out of a total of about 27 billion euros [5]) is attributable to road deaths (see Figure 12). More than half of the total societal costs of road crashes (about 52%) can be attributed to serious road injuries (situation 2020, based on the then current definition; see SWOV fact sheet Serious road injuries in the Netherlands). Casualties with slight injuries (treated in a hospital emergency room) have a share of about 17% and other injuries a share of about 3% in societal costs. About 13% of the costs is attributable to crashes with property damage only (PDO).
The overall social costs of road crashes were estimated to be 27 billion euros in 2020 (€15 to €36 billion) [5]. This is more than 3% of the gross domestic product. The costs per road death are about €6.2 million. For more information, see SWOV fact sheet Road crash costs.
Figure 12. Share of social costs of road crashes with road deaths, serious/slight/other injuries and property damage only (PDO) in 2020 [5].
