Road Traffic Accidents

Speeding is one of the major causes of road traffic accidents and is thus an important issue in global transport policies. It is estimated that speeding contributes to the 36000 serious injuries and 3000 deaths that occur in the United Kingdom alone each year (THINK! UK DfT, 2011). The reasons for speeding may vary, however, the public choices about road safety can be assessed through the use of estimates of the willingness of people to trade off wealth or any other observational benefit for a reduction in the probability of death (Ashenfelter and Greenstone, 2004). This ratio can then be used to obtain an estimate of the value of a statistical life (VSL). The VSL is a trade off or ratio that shows the estimate of a person’s willingness to trade increases in the probability of death in return for higher wealth. It can be used by governments to base decision-making on a robust and reliable measure of monetary value of road safety (de Blaeij et. al, 2000). Furthermore, society has limited resources that it can spend on health and safety improvements, hence, policymakers estimate the value of a statistical life to obtain the greatest benefit for each dollar spent (Brannon, 2004). An appropriate value can then be derived and assigned toward that effort. This essay will primarily focus on three major aspects of VSL in context with understanding benefits of reducing motorists’ speed: Defining the importance of estimating VSL in conjunction with reducing motorists’ speed, deriving measures of VSL that can be implicated in road behaviour such as speeding, and issues pertaining to the VSL approach.

It is useful to determine VSL estimates because it aids drivers, authorities, and policymakers to evaluate risks associated with speeding and set appropriate speed limits, fine levels, and policies. Furthermore, by determining the VSL with respect to road traffic fatalities and mortalities, the driver will be aware of the tradeoffs between saving time and an increased probability of death. The earliest use of VSL estimates in the design of highways utilises efficient ways to allocate resources so as to reduce traffic fatalities and sufficiently lower fatalities within a given budget to the point where the typical driver would not be willing to pay more for traffic safety (Ashenfelter, 2006). Essentially, the VSL plays a key role in discussions of how big the traffic safety budget should be. So how is this all related to motorists’ speed? The answer lies in the amount of congestion or road traffic present which is related to how well the highway/road is designed and ultimately governs speed limits. According to Strand (2005), VSL estimates are needed