Chapter 24: Valuation of Safety

Two inescapable facts confront those concerned to determine the appropriate level of provision of public safety. First, safety is typically not a free good and, second, society’s resources are not limitless. This means that a responsible decision for or against any proposed public safety improvement requires a judgement as to whether or not the reduction in risk afforded by the improvement is sufficient to justify its cost of provision. This then raises the question of how such a judgement might be made.

On the basis of straightforward intuition, most of us would no doubt agree that a safety improvement that would cost just a few thousand pounds, and which could be expected to prevent several premature deaths, would be well warranted. Equally, most people would have little hesitation in deciding against a proposal that would cost several millions of pounds but which would, at best, prevent only one or two non-fatal injuries involving minor cuts and bruises. In less extreme cases, however, matters are not quite so straightforward.