This report presents the results of an analysis of motor vehicle crash costs in the United State in the year 2000. The total economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in 2000 was $230.6 billion. This represents the present value of lifetime costs for 41,821 fatalities, 5.3 million non-fatal injuries, and 28 million damaged vehicles, in both police-reported and unreported crashes. Lost market productivity accounted for $61 billion of this total, while property damage accounted for nearly as much - $59 billion. Medical expenses totaled $32.6 billion and travel delay accounted for $25.6 billion. Each fatality resulted in an average discounted lifetime cost of $977,000. Public revenues paid for roughly 9% of all motor vehicle crash costs, costing tax payers $21 billion in 2000, the equivalent of over $200 in added taxes for every household in the U.S. Alcohol-involved crashes accounted for $51.1 billion or 22% of all economic costs, and 75% of these costs occurred in crashes where a driver or non-occupant had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .10 or greater. In roughly 80% of these cases, alcohol was the cause of the crash. Crashes in which police indicate that at least one driver was exceeding the legal speed limit or driving too fast for conditions cost $40.4 billion in 2000. Safety belt use prevented 11,900 fatalities, 325,000 serious injuries, and $50 billion in injury related costs in 2000, but the failure of a substantial portion of the driving population to buckle up caused 9,200 unnecessary fatalities, 143,000 serious injuries, and cost society $26 billion in easily preventable injury related costs.
Abstract