How much do road accidents cost the national economy?

This paper presents estimates of how much road accidents cost the national economy, stated as a percentage of the gross national product (GNP). Official estimates of road accident costs from 1990 or later were compiled from easily accessible sources for twelve countries. Estimates of the gross national product were taken from OECD publications. On the average, the total costs of road accidents, including an economic valuation of lost quality of life, were estimated to about 2.5% of the gross national product. Excluding the valuation of lost quality of life, road accident costs on the average amounted to 1.3% of the gross national product. When valuation of lost quality of life is included, costs ranged from 0.5 to 5.7% of GNP. When valuation of lost quality of life is disregarded, costs ranged from 0.3 to 2.8% of GNP. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.