4. Crash costs
This chapter contains updated average crash costs by crash severity across jurisdictions (i.e. taking into account injury severity),estimated using the hybrid human capital approach and the willingness to pay (WTP) approach.
4.1 Crash data
Crash data by injury type and crash severity were extracted from the Austroads crash data by jurisdiction as at 2010. The 2010 data were the most recent crash data collected from jurisdictions at the time of the update, and were subsequently cleaned and checked for consistency and reconciled as far as possible. The crash data per injury and crash severity were used to estimate the average cost of crashes per crash severity using the latest injury values for both human capital (HC) and willingness to pay (WTP) approaches outlined in this section. The Austroads crash data were obtained from data provided by road agencies across jurisdictions in Australia. Jurisdictions tend to collect data from police reports of crashes, although there is some variability. Police reporting differs between jurisdictions, as does the extent to which police officers attend crashes. Consequently, the crash data in this report refers to reported crashes only.
The steps undertaken in analysing the latest available (2010) crash data and using it to estimate the average cost of crashes by injury severity were:
- Classifying the jurisdictional crash data road environment (i.e. grouping crashes by rural, urban and urban freeways road environments). The rural road environment refers to mainly built-up undivided roads with speed limits of up to 80 km/h, mainly built-up and divided roads with speed limits of 100 km/h and above and mainly open roads with speed limits from 80 km/h. The urban road environment was defined as mainly built-up and divided roads with speed limits below 100 km/h and all roads with speed limits under 80 km/h. The urban freeway environment was defined as mainly built-up and divided roads with speed limits of 100 km/h and above
- Grouping by crash severity and road environment (i.e. fatal, serious and minor crashes on the different road environments). Crash severity classifications vary across jurisdictions; for example, New South Wales records fatal, injury, other and tow-away crashes. To standardise the analysis, crashes were classified as fatal, serious and other crashes for all jurisdictions except New South Wales
- Further classifying jurisdictional data by injury severity, crash severity and road environment. This showed the number of injuries and injury type by crash severity, such as the number of fatalities, medically treated, admitted to hospital, minor injuries and other injuries in fatal crashes
- Calculating the rate of injury per crash type by road environment (i.e. calculating the rate of fatalities per fatal crash or serious injuries per fatal crash, etc.)
- Injury rate per crash type was then used, along with the updated human capital and willingness to pay values per injury, to estimate the average cost of crashes by injury severity.
4.2 Casualty costs
Casualty costs across injury types were updated using both the human capital and the WTP approaches. These were then applied to the crash rates and crash severities to calculate an average cost of crashes for crash severity in Australia.
4.2.1 Human capital approach
The updated average casualty costs per person based on the 1996 values (BTE, 2000) and updated to June 2013 using appropriate indices are contained in Table 4.1. This is the same method used as in previous Austroads unit values updates (Austroads, 2012a). These values for casualty costs were then applied to the crash data per crash severity to estimate the average cost of crashes for Australia in 2013[1].
| Cost component | Fatal crash | Serious injury crash | Other injury crash | Price index | Fatal crash | Serious injury crash | Other injury crash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $ per person – June 1996 values | $ per person – June 2013 values | ||||||
| Human costs | |||||||
| Ambulance costs | 254 | 254 | 138 | 2.0071 | 510 | 510 | 277 |
| Hospital in-patient costs | 1,373 | 5,493 | 28 | 2.0071 | 2,756 | 11,026 | 56 |
| Other medical costs | 1,018 | 8,246 | 40 | 2.0071 | 2,043 | 16,552 | 80 |
| Long-term care | - | 62,395 | - | 2.0071 | 0 | 125,246 | 0 |
| Labour in the workplace | 347,208 | 16,417 | - | 2.1092 | 732,187 | 34,620 | 0 |
| Labour in the household | 288,832 | 13,689 | - | 2.1092 | 609,085 | 28,867 | 0 |
| Quality of life | 319,030 | 34,228 | 1,819 | 2.1092 | 672,766 | 72,180 | 3,836 |
| Insurance claims | 12,000 | 21,147 | 1,264 | 1.5413 | 18,495 | 32,592 | 1,948 |
| Criminal prosecution | 1,548 | 448 | 55 | 1.5413 | 2,386 | 690 | 85 |
| Correctional services | 8,511 | - | - | 1.5413 | 13,117 | 0 | 0 |
| Workplace disruptions | 8,077 | 8,301 | 538 | 1.5413 | 12,449 | 12,794 | 829 |
| Funeral | 1,700 | - | - | 1.5413 | 2,620 | 0 | 0 |
| Coroner | 558 | - | - | 1.5413 | 860 | 0 | 0 |
| Total human cost | 990,109 | 170,618 | 3,882 | 2,069,274 | 335,078 | 7,111 | |
| Vehicle costs | |||||||
| Repairs | 8,528 | 7,126 | 7,032 | 1.5934 | 13,585 | 11,352 | 11,202 |
| Unavailability of vehicles | 1,082 | 960 | 507 | 1.5934 | 1,724 | 1,529 | 808 |
| Towing | 254 | 226 | 119 | 1.5934 | 405 | 360 | 190 |
| Total vehicle costs | 9,864 | 8,312 | 7,658 | 15,714 | 13,241 | 12,200 | |
| General costs | |||||||
| Travel delays | 47,678 | 57,704 | 75 | 1.5413 | 73,483 | 88,935 | 116 |
| Insurance administration | 30,553 | 36,979 | 48 | 1.5413 | 47,089 | 56,993 | 74 |
| Police | 6,147 | 2,112 | 32 | 1.5413 | 9,474 | 3,255 | 49 |
| Property | 990 | 1,198 | 2 | 1.5413 | 1,526 | 1,846 | 3 |
| Fire | 323 | 391 | 1 | 1.5413 | 498 | 603 | 2 |
| Total general costs | 85,691 | 98,384 | 158 | 132,069 | 151,632 | 244 | |
| Total combined costs | 1,085,664 | 277,314 | 11,698 | 2,217,057 | 499,951 | 19,554 | |
- Health CPI
- Average weekly earnings include all employees’ total earnings (full-time plus part-time) for May 2013 as obtained from the ABS (2013)
- CPI all groups
- CPI motor vehicle repairs and servicing
Source: Adapted from BTE (2000) by ARRB Group Ltd.
The revised estimate of a property damage only crash based on BTE (2000) data is $9,257 as at June 2013.
4.2.2 Willingness to pay (WTP) approach
Crash costs per injury type derived from WTP values are contained in Table 4.2. The WTP values estimated by the RTA NSW in 2008 were updated as an interim measure until a national WTP study is undertaken; this was in line with the methodology for interim estimates outlined in Austroads (2015). These values were then applied to the appropriate crash data to estimate crash costs using the WTP values. The WTP average crash cost values estimated by TfNSW in their appraisal guidelines (TfNSW, 2013a)[2] were also updated and included in the WTP average crash costs presented in Table 4.7. Additional costs as compiled by BITRE for emergency services and other costs were then added to the WTP values as the ‘inclusive’ WTP values and these are presented in Table 4.3. These injury costs were then applied to the crash data to calculate average crash costs presented in Table 4.8.
| Injury severity | Urban ($) | Non-urban ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Value of statistical life (VSL) | 7,425,629 | 7,342,167 |
| Value of serious injury (VSI) | 361,733 | 226,025 |
| Value of hospitalised injuries (VHI) | 87,988 | 65,210 |
| Value of minor injuries (VMI) | 19,296 | 23,678 |
Source: ARRB Group Ltd adapted from Austroads (2015).
| Injury severity | Urban ($) | Non-urban ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Value of statistical life (VSL) | 7,573,412 | 7,489,950 |
| Value of serious injury (VSI) | 526,606 | 390,898 |
| Value of hospitalised injuries (VHI) | 100,431 | 77,653 |
| Value of minor injuries (VMI) | 31,739 | 36,121 |
Source: ARRB Group Ltd adapted from Austroads (2015)
4.3 Estimation of average crash costs by injury severity
The updated average costs per crash calculated under the hybrid HC approach for Australia as a whole are set out in Table 4.4.
| Crash severity | Fatal | Serious injury | Slight injury | PDO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value ($2013) | 2,463,432 | 629,484 | 22,992 | 9,257 |
Source: Adapted from BTE (2000)
The estimated average crash cost per crash severity for casualty crashes was also calculated for each jurisdiction using the updated human capital costs per injury severity and 2010 crash data. These values are contained in Table 4.6.
4.4 Estimation of crash costs by severity and speed zone
Crash costs across jurisdictions were estimated by severity and speed zone for urban freeways, urban roads and rural roads. These data are presented in Tables 4.9, 4.10 and 4.11 respectively. Not all jurisdictions had sufficient data for the estimation of crash costs for all speed zones. Also, the estimates for crash costs for the same crash severity varied across jurisdictions. The estimates were also undertaken using human capital values only for the purposes of this update due to these variations.
The data were also sufficient for the estimation of crash costs for classification of crashes according to DCA codes, although there was significant variation in average crash costs across and within DCA codes. These data are available on request and should be used with appropriate awareness and understanding of this variation.
4.5 Crash rates
The calculation of crash rates was undertaken by Austroads over some years for both Australia and by individual jurisdictions in Jurewicz & Bennett (2008) and Austroads (2010a). The data provide crash rates by mid-block and intersections for both urban and rural situations. It is recommended that practitioners consult these publications for appropriate crash rates for their analyses.
4.6 Crash reduction and mitigation factors
Crash reduction (and mitigation) factors have been published in Austroads (2012b) for a range of treatment types[3]. These were also published as a complement to crash reduction factors for Black Spot Treatments published in Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (2009) Black Spot Evaluation Notes on Administration. It is recommended that practitioners consult these publications for crash reduction and mitigation factors relevant to their analysis.
4.7 Life-long injury costs
The cost of life-long injuries is also significant but is currently not included in the costs of serious injury. The lifetime costs per incident case estimated in Access Economics (2009) for spinal cord injuries and paraplegia and quadriplegia were updated to $2013 using the CPI for medical and hospital services and the National Accounts Implicit Price Deflator for Health to provide some idea of the extent of these costs. These values are contained in Table 4.5. It must be noted they have not been included in the estimates compiled for these Guidelines, but there is considerable merit in considering how the costs of long term injury (care costs) might be taken into account in future. Additional data would be required on relevant crash rates and the costs of long term care.
| Injury type | $2008 values ($m) | $2013 values ($m) using CPI medical & health services | $2013 values ($m) using implicit price deflator for health |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spinal cord injuries (SCI) | 4.9 | 6.8 | 6.1 |
| Paraplegia and quadriplegia | 7.6 | 10.5 | 9.4 |
Source: Adapted from Access Economics (2009)
| State | Rural | Urban | Urban freeway | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | |
| New South Wales | 2,875,402 | 588,546 | 2,538,351 | 546,231 | 2,607,771 | 574,426 | 2,772,853 | 537,864 | ||||
| Victoria | 2,843,808 | 628,914 | 26,217 | 2,521,384 | 562,234 | 24,550 | 2,860,449 | 596,339 | 25,242 | 2,715,548 | 578,847 | 24,707 |
| Queensland | 2,728,617 | 642,035 | 25,822 | 2,456,692 | 595,803 | 23,760 | 2,417,038 | 602,434 | 25,760 | 2,622,924 | 608,184 | 24,217 |
| South Australia | 2,826,043 | 610,963 | 26,080 | 2,385,285 | 553,306 | 23,479 | 2,569,913 | 782,048 | 27,490 | 2,634,126 | 578,406 | 23,963 |
| Western Australia | 2,868,662 | 638,358 | 28,970 | 2,447,722 | 583,884 | 26,900 | 2,617,019 | 646,690 | 28,149 | 2,707,518 | 300,437 | 26,878 |
| Tasmania | 2,568,291 | 579,621 | 28,381 | 2,351,823 | 533,536 | 24,696 | 2,217,057 | 699,655 | 28,245 | 2,502,099 | 563,854 | 26,107 |
| Northern Territory | 2,803,648 | 664,275 | 24,241 | 2,945,056 | 620,768 | 23,343 | 2,864,360 | 520,685 | 31,109 | 2,847,136 | 635,163 | 24,266 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 2,857,595 | 536,679 | ||||||||||
Source: ARRB Group Ltd.
| State | Rural | Urban | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | |
| New South Wales | 7,848,085 | 216,675 | 6,476,155 | 136,505 | ||
| Victoria | 8,319,000 | 289,604 | 31,747 | 8,217,515 | 407,930 | 24,226 |
| Queensland | 8,059,080 | 294,906 | 31,268 | 7,741,326 | 436,471 | 23,446 |
| South Australia | 8,725,853 | 297,940 | 31,580 | 7,625,611 | 424,018 | 23,169 |
| Western Australia | 8,537,385 | 294,498 | 35,079 | 7,796,363 | 423,650 | 26,544 |
| Tasmania | 8,087,424 | 267,428 | 34,368 | 7,525,710 | 386,849 | 25,831 |
| Northern Territory | 8,043,372 | 302,628 | 29,353 | 8,439,525 | 449,694 | 23,035 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 8,982,223 | 389,365 | ||||
Source: ARRB Group Ltd.
| State | Rural | Urban | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | |
| New South Wales[4] | 7,848,085 | 216,675 | 6,476,155 | 136,505 | ||
| New South Wales[5] | 8,947,869 | 543,335 | 8,298,633 | 659,881 | ||
| Victoria | 8,611,365 | 499,138 | 48,429 | 8,409,584 | 594,663 | 39,848 |
| Queensland | 8,331,930 | 507,261 | 47,699 | 7,955,196 | 633,652 | 38,566 |
| South Australia | 8,905,039 | 504,427 | 48,175 | 7,780,230 | 611,175 | 38,110 |
| Western Australia | 8,820,027 | 507,601 | 53,513 | 8,001,286 | 617,588 | 43,661 |
| Tasmania | 8,302,092 | 460,750 | 52,429 | 7,720,934 | 563,748 | 42,488 |
| Northern Territory | 8,343,480 | 522,627 | 44,779 | 8,780,310 | 655,048 | 37,888 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 9,233,736 | 567,583 | ||||
Includes vehicle and general costs, e.g. vehicle towing, emergency services, administrative, etc, as calculated under the Human Capital approach.
Source: ARRB Group Ltd.
| Speed zone (km/h) | 100 km/h | 110 km/h | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) |
Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) |
| New South Wales | 1,206,207 | 315,145 | 955,254 | 372,809 | ||
| Victoria | 991,683 | 242,614 | 25,242 | - | 280,195 | 25,242 |
| Queensland | 1,640,750 | 542,644 | 16,861 | - | - | - |
| South Australia | - | 259,958 | 54,031 | 1,118,306 | 777,702 | 27,490 |
| Western Australia | 1,409,459 | 646,690 | 56,298 | - | - | 56,298 |
| Tasmania | 2,217,057 | 687,433 | 26,507 | - | 687,433 | 27,502 |
| Northern Territory | 1,430,225 | 493,221 | 22,221 | - | 519,180 | 22,221 |
Source: ARRB Group Ltd.
| Speed zone (km/h) | < 50 km/h | 50 km/h | 60 km/h | 70 km/h | 80 km/h | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) |
Serious injury crash ($) |
Other injury crash ($) |
| New South Wales | 2,330,338 | - | - | 2,396,664 | 624,281 | - | 1,045,673 | 582,918 | - | 1,139,960 | 608,057 | - | 1,481,236 | 1,091,367 | - |
| Victoria | 811,472 | 245,184 | 24,550 | 1,223,785 | 279,233 | 24,550 | 1,040,310 | 253,489 | 25,561 | 1,252,194 | 253,929 | 24,550 | 1,105,994 | 223,964 | 24,550 |
| Queensland | 1,761,617 | 561,080 | 15,282 | - | - | - | 1,543,810 | 537,680 | 15,282 | 1,566,233 | 514,572 | 15,282 | - | - | - |
| South Australia | - | 509,522 | 23,479 | 1,576,703 | 446,454 | 23,479 | 1,557,525 | 447,367 | 23,479 | 2,275,401 | 367,213 | 23,479 | 2,275,401 | 457,774 | 23,479 |
| Western Australia | 1,222,370 | 579,366 | 26,900 | 2,024,751 | 498,515 | 26,900 | 1,807,806 | 471,782 | 25,883 | 1,116,863 | 480,463 | 26,900 | 1,528,694 | 483,355 | 26,939 |
| Tasmania | - | 530,436 | 24,696 | 2,217,057 | 530,436 | 24,332 | 2,217,057 | 516,100 | 24,321 | 2,217,057 | 530,436 | 24,412 | - | - | - |
| Northern Territory | - | 618,690 | 18,332 | 2,401,812 | 542,951 | 18,332 | 1,231,695 | 565,061 | 18,332 | 1,604,584 | 618,690 | 18,332 | - | - | - |
Source: ARRB Group Ltd.
| Speed zone (km/h) | 80 km/h | 90 km/h | 100 km/h | 110 km/h | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) | Fatal crash ($) | Serious injury crash ($) | Other injury crash ($) |
| New South Wales | 1,432,929 | 458,899 | - | 1,337,764 | 351,451 | - | 1,386,168 | 484,664 | - | 2,010,614 | 462,809 | - |
| Victoria | 894,166 | 332,792 | 26,217 | 1,640,421 | 295,238 | 21,017 | 1,152,344 | 357,459 | 26,217 | 851,010 | 375,091 | 26,217 |
| Queensland | 1,548,496 | 590,370 | 14,677 | - | - | - | 1,494,690 | 593,020 | 14,708 | - | - | - |
| South Australia | 2,116,449 | 464,397 | 26,080 | 2,632,756 | 519,892 | 26,080 | 1,557,606 | 500,275 | 26,080 | 1,718,791 | 513,049 | 26,080 |
| Western Australia | 1,431,823 | 499,432 | 28,970 | 1,624,585 | 415,669 | 28,970 | 1,635,677 | 526,016 | 28,970 | 1,524,414 | 505,746 | 26,548 |
| Tasmania | 1,543,962 | 397,174 | 28,381 | 815,091 | 572,525 | 28,381 | 536,346 | 430,068 | 27,711 | 921,529 | 491,750 | 29,717 |
| Northern Territory | 1,457,504 | 612,205 | 19,554 | 2,369,958 | 567,186 | 19,554 | 1,551,542 | 661,226 | 19,554 | 1,521,661 | 18,138 | 19,554 |
Source: ARRB Group Ltd.
[1] Also see BTRE (2010) for the Hybrid human capital approach. However, for the ATAP parameter values, the methodology for the update of injury costs was kept the same as for Austroads (2012a), i.e. 1996 base values updated, in line with the human capital approach. This is also explained in Austroads (2011a).
[2] The WTP crash costs estimated for the RTA NSW in 2008 (see Austroads, 2015) were subsequently revised to include weighted averages for cars and pedestrians (RTA, 2008) and used as the basis for the estimate crash costs in TfNSW (2013a), taking account of revised urban and rural crash rates and severities. These values updated to June 2013 have also been published in Table 4.7. It must be noted that the revised values are higher in the case of rural injuries due to the weighting of crash severities applied. This in turn results in higher rural average cost of crashes if the revised injury costs are applied to crash data due to higher rural crash severities.
[3] Treatment types include: delineation (e.g. pavement or line markings), intersection treatments (e.g. installation of give way signs or roundabouts), railway level crossings (e.g. signage or barriers), road geometry and design (e.g. overtaking lanes), roadside (e.g. installation of guardrails), signage (e.g. variable message or warning signs), pedestrian (e.g. phasing at signals, pedestrian crossing), speed and enforcement (e.g. speed cameras, speed changes) and traffic management (e.g. medians, traffic calming). A level of confidence is also provided for each crash reduction or mitigation factor per treatment type in Austroads (2012b).
[4] Note values for NSW are as published in the TfNSW project appraisal guidelines, TfNSW (2013a), where it is assumed that all costs are included in the WTP values. Hence, the Inclusive WTP values for NSW remain the same.
[5] These values for NSW were compiled using RTA NSW (2008) values (incl. additional costs) and NSW crash data as per all other jurisdictions. This approach was accepted as an interim approach in Austroads (2015) until a national WTP study is undertaken for Australia.