Interesting discussion (yet again) about accident costs

[Peter Ward]

...going on in General Gassing: www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=201865&f=23&h=0

I did a quick Google to find some stats from Scotland which nevertheless cover all of GB. I know we've discussed this here before so I thought the debate might be of interest to those who seldom stray outside SP&TL (like me).

Update: I used the Sussex police website facility to ask the following:

question to Sussex police said:

I found this web page by accident: www.sussex.police.uk/features/roadsPolicing/we_never_went_away.asp I am curious as to how a road death "costs the taxpayer £1m". Figures from the Government (for example, at www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/transport/ras02-23.asp table 10) indicate that the majority of the £1.5m costs of a road death relate to the pain and suffering of relatives plus assumed lost output of the dead person. The cost of policing and NHS resources is put at around £20k. Isn't this the real cost to the taxpayer that you would want to include on your website? Or is it possible, for example, for the relatives to claim almost £1m from "the taxpayer" in compensation for a road death? I would be interested to understand your justification for including a much higher -- and potentially misleading -- figure on your website.

If I get a response I will post it here.

>> Edited by Peter Ward on Friday 19th August 18:28

>> Edited by Peter Ward on Friday 19th August 18:29