Which societal costs are caused by a serious road injury?

More than half of the total societal costs of road crashes (about 52%) can be attributed to serious road injuries (situation in 2020, on the basis of the definition current at that time), while the share of road death costs is relatively low (an estimated 15%), see Figure 8. Casualties with slight injuries (treated at an A&E department) have a share of about 17% and other casualties a share of about 3% in societal costs.

The total societal costs of road crashes in 2020 are estimated at €27 billion (€15 to €36 billion [17]). This equals over 3% of the gross domestic product. The costs per serious road injury in the current definition are about €1,000,000 million. For more information see SWOV fact sheet Road crash costs.

Afbeelding

Figure 8. Proportions of road crash costs by damage type (here still according to the 2020 definition: serious road injuries based on injury severity MAIS2+. PDO = crashes with property damage only [17].

Abeelding
Part of fact sheet

Serious road injuries in the Netherlands

In 2022, the number of serious road injuries in the Netherlands was estimated at 8,300. That number is about 1,500 (over 20%) higher than the 2021 Meer

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Reproduction is allowed with due acknowledgement:

SWOV (2023). Serious road injuries in the Netherlands. SWOV fact sheet, December 2023, SWOV, The Hague.

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