Assessing the cost of vehicle crash injuries to the community

There is no shortage of data available to indicate the enormity of the cost of road crashes to communities. Every country suffers the ignominy of death and injury on its roads and this is rightly considered a situation that should not exist. One problem faced by all governments in this regard is the appropriate addressing of the trauma cost with the most cost-effective strategy to reduce the considerable burden on government spending. Almost all reference to road trauma costs refers to death, serious injury and injury crashes. Simply analysing the definition of these categories can produce significant problems with data as what one jurisdiction sees as being a ‘serious’ injury may differ considerably from another. Even the definition of death related to a vehicle crash carries a multiplicity of definitions. This paper will not deal with the costs associated with road deaths. As the most significant problem of road use today, this issue, while costing families and friends forever, has a relatively low cost for the remainder of the community. It is not intended that this paper should explore the many arguments which can evolve from discussion on road deaths, but the stark reality is that injuries cost the community in a far more material sense than death. This paper will concentrate on vehicle injuries and, in particular, the distinction between injury levels for all vehicle-related crashes, not just those occurring on roads, to see how this can correlate to community costs. With local government owning the majority of the roads network, perhaps it is time to look at this as a problem that should be addressed from the local level.