New CDC Study Finds Annual Cost of Motor Vehicle Crashes Exceeds $99 Billion
In a one-year period, the cost of medical care and productivity losses associated with injuries from motor vehicle crashes exceeded $99 billion - with the cost of direct medical care accounting for $17 billion, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The total annual cost amounts to nearly $500 for each licensed driver in the United States, said the study in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention. See the CDC press release .
The one-year costs of fatal and non-fatal crash-related injuries totaled $70 billion (71 percent of total costs) for people riding in motor vehicles, such as cars and light trucks, $12 billion for motorcyclists, $10 billion for pedestrians, and $5 billion for bicyclists, the study said.
CDC has also released a one-page fact sheet to help communities play an important role in reducing the human and economic toll of motor vehicle-related injuries by supporting prevention policies that have been shown to save lives and reduce costs.
Save Lives, Save Dollars--Prevent Motor Vehicle Related Injuries [pdf 255K] provides information about cost-effective policies to:
- Improve child passenger safety.
- Improve teen driver safety.
- Reduce alcohol-impaired driving.
- Increase safety belt use.
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