Written question asked by David Amess (Conservative) on Monday, 30 March 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 1 April 2009. It was answered by Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour) on Monday, 20 April 2009 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Roads: Accidents

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost to the public purse funds on average was of each road fatality in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Department for Transport publishes the average value of preventing a fatality on roads as part of the new approach to appraisal guidance. This is used by promoters to develop business cases. The overall value includes some estimates of costs that would be avoided by preventing road fatalities, some of which would otherwise fall on public funds.Savings made in the form of police costs from preventing a fatal accident are estimated as £1,920 (2007 prices) on average. It is important to note that this cost saving is attributable to a fatal accident and not to each single fatality. A single accident can involve more than one fatality and include other individuals with injuries varying in severity. Medical and ambulance costs, however, relate to each personal fatality and are estimated at £6,310 (2007 prices).Each year the Department for Transport publishes its valuation of preventing fatalities (VPF) on transport using annual road accident data for appraisal purposes. In addition to the costs mentioned above components of the VPF that are directly attributable to each fatality on average include valuations of lost human output (£624,190 in 2007 prices) and human costs such as grievance and suffering (£1,232,800 in 2007 prices).

Secondary information