Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada
Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada
Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada
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Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario<br />
available from a study by SMARTRISK. 1 Their estimate of $125 million in 1996 when<br />
adjusted for inflation and number of persons injured or killed in Ontario motor vehicle<br />
collisions between 1996 and 2004 would range between $122 to $127 million<br />
respectively. This number is almost identical to our estimate of the costs of health care. 2<br />
SMARTRISK also produces an estimate of the indirect costs of motor vehicle<br />
collisions. Their methodology is based on the DFE approach. Their estimate of $442<br />
million in 1996 when adjusted for inflation and the number of persons injured or killed in<br />
Ontario motor vehicle collisions would range between $429 to $477 million respectively.<br />
The estimate in this study based on the DFE approach is $1.5 billion. 3<br />
There are two differences between the SMARTRISK estimates and those<br />
produced by this study. First, SMARTRISK does not cover the full range of social costs<br />
investigated by this study but instead covers only the direct and indirect cost of injury and<br />
death. Second, the values assigned to human consequences (indirect costs) are lower for<br />
SMARTRISK. The implicit value for a life lost in motor vehicle collision is $300,000 in<br />
the SMARTRISK study for 1996. This is one-third of the value of life estimated for this<br />
study using the comparable DFE approach. Estimates using the WTP approach, which<br />
would be favoured by most social cost practitioners, are higher again.<br />
1 The Economic Burden of Unintentional Injury in Ontario, SMARTRISK, 1999.<br />
2 SMARTRISK re-estimated costs for motor vehicle collisions in 1999 (The Economic Burden of<br />
Unintentional Injury in Ontario, SMARTRISK, 2006). In that study they estimated direct (health care)<br />
costs of motor vehicle collisions at $373 million almost three times the estimate of three years earlier,<br />
despite a reduction in the number of fatalities and injuries and no change in methods. We have not<br />
considered these data in our comparison.<br />
3 Again the 2006 SMARTRISK analysis re-estimates the indirect (human) costs of motor vehicle collisions<br />
at $628 million. Correcting for inflation and differences in the number of injuries and fatalities the<br />
estimate would be $615 million to $652 million respectively.<br />
TNS Canadian Facts, Social and Policy Research 53
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