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 (CDC). 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.
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.
- Increasesafetybelt use.
