Applying methodologies suggested for use by the Federal Highway Administration to the data of actual collisions involving the state highways in Washington, WSDOT can roughly estimate the societal cost of the torrent of collisions. Considering just the state highways (50,157 of the total 127,869 state-wide reported collision count),
the societal cost calculation for 2002 is $2.45 billion. Extrapolating to the overall estimated total of collisions of all highways and roadways, the total annual societal cost of motor vehicle collisions for Washington can be estimated at approximately $5.6 billion. That is about $930 for every man, woman and child in the state. These costs include medical costs, lost wages, property damage, lost productivity and so forth.
Societal Costs of Motor Vehicle Collisions in
Washington State 1980 - 2002
Cost in 2002 Dollars (In Billions)
As shown in the graph above, the calculated societal cost of motor vehicle accidents has dropped somewhat in real dollar terms over the last twenty years. Because fatal accidents are assigned much higher costs in the calculation formula than any other type of accident, the reduction in fatal accidents - even though only a small proportion of total accidents - has offset the impact of the ever-growing number of non-fatal accidents.
Severity of Collisions and Societal Costs of
Collisions by Severity
All Washington Roads - 2002
The pie charts above compare the severity of collisions in Washington in 2002 and the cost of those collisions.
The high cost of fatal and disabling injury collisions is demonstrated by the fact that only 2.5% of the collisions involve fatalities and disabling injuries, yet these accidents account for 54% of the total societal cost of collisions.