Efforts to determine the cost of road accidents in Canada are described in order to examine the appropriateness of these costs in evaluating safety programs. Cost-benefit studies have been conducted, and theories regarding the value of safety improvements have been proposed. Estimations of road accident costs in Canada focus on property damage, lost productive work efforts, and health care. It is concluded that social values associated with safety improvements may vary with the circumstances, i.e., the nature of risks. The measurement of avoided accident costs can provide only minimum estimates of actual benefits from safety improvements, and may provide differing proportions of true benefits for varied risks and severities of avoided casualties. Accident cost data may be useful in limited cost-benefit analyses to recommend acceptance of a safety program but should not be used to recommend rejection. Simple comparisons of costs and benefits will not necessarily indicate appropriate program priorities.
Abstract