Pantagraph.com Weather forecast, local radar and more
NewsThursday, March 6, 2008 2:17 PM CST
Comments Comments (2) | E-mail this page E-mail this page | Print this page Print this page | Enlarge type Enlarge type | Reduce type Reduce type | Search archives Search archives | RSS RSS feeds | Add to My Yahoo! Add to My Yahoo!
Study: Traffic crashes cost billions
By Ken Thomas
Associated Press
Advertisement

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Traffic crashes cost American motorists more than $160 billion a year while inflicting a staggering per-person toll on small cities such as Little Rock, Ark., Columbia, S.C., and Pensacola, Fla., according to a AAA research report.

The study, to be released Wednesday, found that traffic crashes have a much more damaging impact on society than the bumper-to-bumper congestion that riles commuters in many metropolitan areas.

Maryland-based Cambridge Systematics Inc., which conducted the research for the automobile association, found that crashes cost U.S. motorists $164.2 billion a year, or about $1,051 per person. That's more than double the $67.6 billion in annual costs from congestion, or about $430 per person.

To calculate the crash costs, researchers took into account factors such as property damage, lost earnings, medical costs, emergency services, legal costs and travel delays.

The nation's largest cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, face billions of dollars in costs each year from car accidents. In the New York metropolitan area, they cost the region $18 billion a year, or about $962 per person, while they cost Los Angeles more than $10 billion a year, or $817 per person.

Researchers, however, found that residents of smaller cities faced a larger per-person burden. Crashes in the Little Rock-North Little Rock region in Arkansas cost $1.4 billion, or $2,258 per person, while car wrecks carried a price tag of $1,772 a person around Pensacola, Fla., and $1,568 a person in Columbia, S.C.

Robert L. Darbelnet, AAA's president and chief executive, noted that nearly 43,000 people die each year on the nation's roadways but that "the annual tally of motor vehicle-related fatalities barely registers as a blip in most people's minds."

"It's time for motor vehicle crashes to be viewed as the public health threat they are," Darbelnet said.

To address the high costs, AAA recommended that lawmakers make safety more of a priority in their transportation planning and pursue measures such as stiffer laws on drunken and impaired driving. The organization also recommended that all states pass primary enforcement seat belt laws, which allow law enforcement officers to stop motorists if their only offense is failing to buckle up.

Legislators in 26 states and the District of Columbia have primary enforcement laws. The remaining states have secondary enforcement laws, which allow tickets for seat belt violations only if motorists are stopped for other offenses. New Hampshire has no seat belt law for adults.

Among other cities, the researchers found that crashes cost:

- $1,439 a person in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area.

- $1,368 a person in Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale, Ariz.

- $1,058 a person in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash., region.

- $887 a person in the Chicago metropolitan area.

- $868 a person in the Detroit metropolitan region.

- $658 a person in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Researchers were unable to provide results for Atlanta and for cities in Massachusetts and Texas because of a lack of data critical to the study.

Video
Most commented stories
Browse online archives
Recent issues:
Reader comments on this story - 2 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

stimie_1958 wrote on Mar 6, 2008 11:16 AM:

" Wow, it took a study to figure this out? "

ktlin wrote on Mar 6, 2008 7:22 AM:

" Hmmh! I think that is why we have traffic laws? Stoplights? Dui laws? Policeman? Radar? All of a sudden someone thinks driving is a public health risk. Do they suggest we get rid of cars? That would solve the gas and oil problem. Just out of curiosity does Russia and China have fewer cars than we do. If we thought wearing a mandated motorcycle helmet was bad, imagine if the government decided which cars we should have and when, where and how we should drive them for our own safety. Did anybody know that driving was bad for your health? You can get hurt in those cars. That is why responsible people are supposed to be behind the wheels. Drunk drivers and careless people cause accidents! Why did someone waste their time studying or thinking up something that anyone would know if they read a newspaper for one day. "
Add your own comments

Please read the rules before posting comments.

You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login?
(requires cookies)
  Forgot Your Password?
 
Lee Enterprises Customer Service | 301 W. Washington St., PO Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61701-2907 | Ph. 309-829-9000 | 800-747-7323
Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. and Lee Enterprises. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy