Economic Cost of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 1994

This report presents the results of an analysis of motor vehicle crash costs in 1994. The total economic cost of motor vehicle crashes in 1994 was $150.5 billion. This represents the present value of lifetime costs for 40,676 fatalities, 5.2 million nonfatal injuries, and 27 million damaged vehicles, in both police reported and unreported crashes. Property damage costs of $52.1 billion accounted for the largest share of costs, while lost market productivity accounted for $42.4 billion. Medical expenses totalled $17 billion. Each fatality resulted in an average discounted lifetime cost of $830,000. Alcohol-involved crashes caused $45 billion or 30 percent of all economic costs, and 78 percent of these costs occurred in crashes where a driver or pedestrian was legally intoxicated (>= .10% BAC). Crashes in which police indicate that at least one driver was exceeding the legal speed limit or driving too fast for conditions cost $27.7 billion in 1994. Public revenues paid for 24 percent of medical costs, and 9 percent of all costs resulting from motor vehicle crashes. These crashes cost taxpayers $13.8 billion in 1994, the equivalent of $144 in added taxes for each household in the United States.