Road safety strategy `could save millions' for Exchequer

The State stands to save £536 million by 2002 by implementing the £120 million Strategy for Road Safety, the economist Dr Peter Bacon said yesterday.

Presenting his Report on Road Safety in Dublin, Dr Bacon said the study had for the first time put a monetary cost on road accidents. Describing his study as "robust" and "comprehensive", he said the estimated cost of a fatality was £751,500, a serious injury £153,050, and a minor injury £16,520. A damage-only accident was costed at £3,790.

The study showed that over five years the Government's Strategy for Road Safety would be likely to save 279 lives, giving an estimated cost saving of £219 million. It would prevent 1,304 cases of serious injury, which would save £208.5 million, and it would prevent 6,315 minor injuries, giving a saving of £109 million.

In addition, there would be a saving of £80.6 million in Garda resources, £32 million in enforcement measures, and savings on additional educational measures would account for £7 million.

Taken together, the figures reveal that it would be possible to achieve savings of about £800 million. The implementation of the strategy would cost £120 million.

The report, which will be presented to the Department of Finance just weeks before the Minister introduces his Budget, should also underline the fact that the money promised by Government to implement the Strategy for Road Safety has not yet been fully allocated. A central plank of the strategy, a penalty points system for drivers, is held up because it requires investment in the Garda's information technology systems.

The survey found a tendency in the Republic to under-report accidents to the Garda and to insurance companies. However, by comparing data from the Garda, the insurance companies and the medical profession, Dr Bacon was convinced his study had reached the correct conclusions.

He acknowledged that better roads, such as Dublin's M50, had a lower level of accidents. Mr Cartan Finegan, chairman of the National Safety Council, which commissioned the analysis, said that while it was "almost crude or crass to talk about death or injury in monetary terms" it was important that the council set standards which could be measured. "It measures the success of the Road Safety Strategy and shows that investment in road safety programmes gives a very good deal for Government," he said.

Mr Finegan said the strategy seeks to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 20 per cent by 2002 by halving the incidence of speeding, increasing compliance with seat-belt regulations to 85 per cent and reducing night-time - commonly alcohol-related - fatalities by 25 per cent.

"This report counters any argument that road safety programmes are a burden on the Exchequer," Mr Finegan said. "We know from other countries, particularly Australia, that the opposite is the case." He said the benefit was even more significant "when translated into the scarce hospital resources."