Rural mayday systems can reduce t he time between the occurrence of an accident and the notification of emergency medical services - called the accident notification time. Reductions in this time, in turn, may affect the number of fatalities. A statistical analysis is used to estimate the quantitative relationship between fatalities and the accident notification time. The elasticity of rural fatalities with respect to the accident notification time was found to be 0.14. If a rural mayday system were fully implemented (ie a 100% market penetration) and the service availability were 100%, then monetary benefits of about $ 1.83 billion per year and comprehensive benefits (which includes the monetary value attached to the lost quality of life) of $6.36 billion per year would be expected. (Author/publisher).
Abstract