A new World Bank-supported study attempts to quantify the economic costs of the frequent accidents on Thai roads by estimating the price tag of the deaths and injuries caused by such accidents.  The result shows why road safety should be a government priority.

Based on research during 2005-2007, The Study of Traffic Accident Cost in Thailand estimates that road accidents cost a cumulative 232.8 billion baht (about $7.2 billion) in financial terms in 2007 – or 2.8 percent of the country’s GDP.  That’s 60 percent more than what the Thai Government spent last year on health service delivery.

The Study of Traffic Accident Cost in Thailand estimates the cost of a fatal crash around the nation to be, at 2007 prices, 5.3 million baht in financial terms (about $166,111).  The cost of a crash causing disability, meanwhile, is 6.2 million baht (about $192,720) on average.  In Bangkok, both of these costs are considerably higher. A crash that causes death in Bangkok costs 11 million baht ($343,750) on average, while the one that causes disability costs 12.4 million baht ($387,500).

The study was based on a collection of data from a number of Thai government agencies, private business owners, courts, and the police. The research team combined the data with interviews with a wide range of concerned citizens, including doctors and nurses; rescue workers; law enforcement officers and legal experts; insurance agents; and the accident victims as well as their families.