Approximately 10,000 pedestrians are killed and 90,000 seriously injured each year in road accidents in the European Community. The European Experimental Vehicles Committee (EEVC) has developed test methods for assessing the protection afforded to pedestrians by cars. This report considers the benefits to be expected for the European Community from implementation of the EEVC test requirements as an EC Directive, and the cost implications of producing cars to comply with them. The increased cost of producing cars was determined by an independent vehicle design consultancy. Expected benefits have been derived by estimating the resulting proportional reduction of fatal and serious casualties, and by projecting future casualty numbers and casualty costs for the years when cars complying with the proposed Directive are expected to be in use. A benefit to cost ratio of 7.5 : 1 for cars produced in the year 2000 was thereby obtained, giving a net benefit in the EC of 1569 million ECU over the lifetime of these cars. (A)
Abstract