Cost estimates, including both monetary and nonmonetary, quality-of-life costs specific to Michigan, were generated for traffic crashes and index crimes by leading experts in the fields of economics of traffic crashes and crime. These cost estimates were applied to 1998 Michigan traffic crash and index crime incidence data to estimate dollar losses from traffic crashes and index crimes for each county in the state, as well as for the state as a whole. The present study updates earlier work on the costs of traffic crashes and index crimes and improves upon it by including crash costs for alcohol-involved traffic crashes. Findings from the present study indicate that in 1998, index crimes in Michigan resulted in $1.9 billion in monetary costs and $4.5 billion in total costs (i.e., monetary and nonmonetary quality-of-life costs). Traffic crashes in Michigan resulted in $4.3 billion in monetary costs and $10.7 billion in total costs. Of those costs, alcohol-involved crashes accounted for $1 billion in monetary costs and $2.8 billion in total costs. Costs for traffic crashes in 1998 were more than twice as high as comparable costs for index crimes. Based on dollar losses to the state, the magnitude of the problem of traffic crashes clearly exceeded that of index crimes in 1998. (A)
Samenvatting