The value of fatal risk reductions is a vital input for road safety cost-benefit analysis. The authors have succeeded in applying the Stated Choice (SC) approach to tackle this problem, using as one of the attributes the number of accidents with fatal victims. To assess the robustness of SC, the authors conducted an external validity test based on results for three different studies. The authors investigated if preferences were well defined according to economic theory (as initial risk increases, the marginal willingness-to-pay should be higher). The authors also addressed the generally ignored issue of whether there should be a unique value of fatal risk reductions. The authors found that people can internalize risk consistently from an economic viewpoint, and that although each sample yields different values of risk reductions, there was a relationship between the risk level and the value of risk reductions in each context examined; this evidence could be most helpful within the context of developing countries. (Author/publisher)
Abstract