This report deals with the costs of road traffic accidents in the Netherlands. Insight into the various costs involved and their development over time enable us to broadly understand the problems caused by road traffic accidents and compare them with other social issues. In order to gauge the efficiency of road safety measures, it is essential to know the cost of road traffic accidents. Cost/benefit analysis is the usual instrument for answering this kind of question. Thus the effects of new measures on the number of road deaths can be weighted against the cost of implementing those measures and the effects on mobility and the environment. This study answers three research questions: 1. How do the road traffic accident costs in the Netherlands break down? 2. How much are these costs? 3. How have these costs grown over the years? The definition of these costs: “The social cost of road traffic accidents comprises all the costs (direct and indirect) arising from road traffic accidents, including the cost of repair and compensation as they relate to all forms of injury and damage and all costs connected with claim settlements, as well as all other costs arising from accidents including the cost of lost production, congestion costs (resulting from traffic jams following an accident), and personal suffering”. The calculation method used is in line with internationally accepted methods and current thinking, and was developed in association with Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek), Consumer Safety Institute (VeiligheidNL), the Dutch Institute for Road Safety Research (Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Verkeersveiligheid), Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis (Kennisinstituut voor Mobiliteit) and the Rijkswaterstaat Center for Transport and Navigation (Rijkswaterstaat Dienst Verkeer en Scheepvaart). The amounts quoted have been adjusted based on current scientific insights. Costs are subdivided into six cost items: 1. medical costs; 2. lost production; 3. intangible costs; 4. material costs; 5. handling costs; 6. congestion costs. (Author/publisher)
Abstract