Approximately 11% of the overall costs of road crashes is attributable to road deaths (see Figure 12). More than one third of the total societal costs of road crashes (about 37%) can be attributed to serious road injuries. Casualties with slight injuries (treated in a hospital emergency room) have a share of about 22% and other casualties a share of about 6% in societal costs. About a quarter (24%) of the costs is attributable to crashes with property damage only (PDO).
The overall social costs of road crashes in 2018 were estimated to be 17 billion euro (€16 to €19 billion) [3]). This is more than 2% of the gross domestic product. The costs per road death are about €2.8 million. For more information see SWOV fact sheet Road crash costs. A more recent international study shows that the value of a human life is estimated at €6,3 million, about three times higher than in previous estimations [4].
Figure 12. Proportions of deaths, serious/slight/other injuries and property damage only (PDO) crashes of the total road crash costs (2018) [3].
