Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario (2007 Report)

Road safety matters to everyone. Ontario is always looking for new ways to make our roads safer through improvements to licensing and highway infrastructure, public education, new laws and tough enforcement.

Understanding the social costs of motor vehicle collisions helps government and private sector officials find ways to reduce or even prevent injuries and property damage that may result from a crash.

The Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario (2007) is a study that determined the social cost of motor vehicle crashes in all 13 provinces and territories across Canada.

The social cost of a collision is the total economic cost associated with that collision, expressed as a dollar amount. This includes the costs to the driver, passengers and society at large. Social costs can be both direct and indirect:

• Direct costs relate to property damage, emergency response, hospital care, other medical care and insurance costs, out-of-pocket expenses by victims of motor vehicle collisions and traffic delays (lost time, extra fuel use, pollution).
• Indirect costs relate to the human consequences of collisions, such as disability of victims and workdays lost. This also includes any pain and suffering of both victims and their families.

The study was funded jointly by the Ministry of Transportation, Transport Canada, the Ontario Workplace Safety Insurance Board and the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion.