Perceptions of work-related road safety : safety versus savings

Abstract

In Douglas Adam’s "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy", published in the 1970s, a computer is confronted with the intriguing question: "What is the meaning of life?" After elaborate and tedious number crunching, the computer returns: "The answer to your question is 42". It is obvious, that the monetary valuation of road safety is not an easy task either. In fact, it implies answering an equally difficult and intriguing question – What is the statistical value of a human life? Although various methods and approaches have been put forward to estimate the statistical cost of a road fatality, some scholars argue that valuing fatal injuries and hence human life is virtually impossible. They maintain that people do not nearly have sufficiently accurate preferences to make a sensible trade-off between road safety and money. The (perceptions of) changes in risk levels are so small that making the trade-off is very difficult, if not impossible (Hauer, 1994). However, other road safety costs can be statistically determined and initiatives developed to reduce the burden to both organisations and individuals. Therefore, the topic of this paper is to determine what factors contribute to work-related road incidents and how economic costs to industry organisations could be reduced.