2000 Statistics
This report presents the results of an analysis of motor vehicle crash costs in the United States in the year 2000. The total economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in 2000 was $230.6 billion. This represents the present value of lifetime costs for 41, 821 fatalities, 5.3 million non-fatal injuries, and 28 million damaged vehicles, in both police-reported and unreported crashes.
Lost market productivity accounted for $61 billion of this total, while property damage accounted for nearly as much - $59 billion.
Medical expenses totaled $32.6 billion and travel delay accounted for $25.6 billion. Each fatality resulted in an
average discounted lifetime cost of $977,000. Public revenues paid for roughly 9 percent of all motor vehicle crash costs, costing tax payers $21 billion in 2000, the equivalent of over $200 in added taxes for every household in the U.S. Alcohol involved crashes accounted for $51.1 billion or 22 percent of all economic costs, and 75 percent of these costs occurred in crashes where a driver or non-occupant had a BAC of .10 or greater.
In roughly 80 percent of these cases, alcohol was the cause of the crash. Crashes in which police indicate at least one driver was exceeding the legal speed limit or driving too fast for conditions cost $40.4 billion in 2000. Safety belt use prevented 11,900 fatalities, 325,000 serious injuries, and $50 billion in injury related costs in 2000, but the failure of a substantial portion of the driving population to buckle up caused 9,200 unnecessary fatalities, 143,000 serious injuries, and cost society $26 billion in easily preventable injury related costs.
Source: NTSA
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Disclaimer: This material is for training purposes only. Its purpose is to inform employers of best practices in occupational safety and health and general OSHA compliance requirements. This material is not, in any way, a substitute for any provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 or any standards issued by OSHA.