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Traffic crashes cost American motorists more than $160 billion a year while inflicting a staggering per-person toll on small cities such as Little Rock, Ark., Columbia, S.C., and Pensacola, Fla., according to a research report by AAA.
The study, released today, found that traffic crashes are much more damaging to society than the bumper-to-bumper congestion that riles commuters in many metropolitan areas.
Cambridge Systematics, which conducted the research for the automobile association, found that crashes cost U.S. motorists $164.2 billion a year, or about $1,051 per person. That's more than double the $67.6 billion in annual costs from congestion, or about $430 per person.
To calculate the crash costs, researchers took into account factors such as property damage, lost earnings, medical costs, emergency services, legal costs and travel delays.
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The nation's largest cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, face billions of dollars in costs each year from car accidents. In the New York metropolitan area, crashes cost the region $18 billion a year, or about $962 per person; they cost Los Angeles more than $10 billion a year, or $817 per person.
Researchers found that residents of smaller cities faced an even larger per-person burden. Crashes in the Little Rock-North Little Rock region in Arkansas cost $1.4 billion, or $2,258 per person. It was $1,772 a person in the Pensacola, Fla., area and $1,568 a person in Columbia, S.C.
Robert L. Darbelnet, AAA's president and chief executive, noted that nearly 43,000 people die each year on the nation's roadways but that "the annual tally of motor-vehicle-related fatalities barely registers as a blip in most people's minds."
"It's time for motor vehicle crashes to be viewed as the public health threat they are," Darbelnet said.
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Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have such laws. The remaining states allow tickets for seat-belt violations only if motorists are stopped for other offenses. New Hampshire has no seat-belt law for adults.
In other cities, the researchers found that crashes cost:
- $1,439 a person in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area.
- $1,368 a person in Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale, Ariz.
- $1,058 a person in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash., region.
- $887 a person in the Chicago metropolitan area.
- $868 a person in the Detroit metropolitan region.
- $658 a person in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Researchers were unable to provide results for the Atlanta area and for cities in Massachusetts and Texas because of a lack of data critical to the study.
| Metro area | Fatalities | Injuries | Cost (millions) | Crashes cost* | Congestion cost* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York-Newark-Edison, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. | 1,122 | 211,228 | $18,042 | $ 962 | $ 415 |
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. | 950 | 109,610 | $10,556 | $ 817 | $ 744 |
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. | 794 | 85,089 | $8,378 | $ 887 | $ 487 |
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla. | 794 | 76,653 | $7,803 | $ 1,439 | $ 512 |
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. | 520 | 54,134 | $5,378 | $ 924 | $ 392 |
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. | 609 | 48,572 | $5,288 | $ 1,368 | $ 516 |
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. | 500 | 50,360 | $5,056 | $ 970 | $ 545 |
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. | 758 | 32,895 | $4,703 | $ 1,203 | $ 531 |
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. | 428 | 41,721 | $4,233 | $ 1,599 | $ 447 |
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich. | 364 | 39,821 | $3,896 | $ 868 | $ 536 |
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. | 244 | 38,115 | $3,390 | $ 1,056 | $ 470 |
St. Louis, Mo.-Ill. | 390 | 30,608 | $3,353 | $ 1,207 | $ 338 |
Orlando, Fla. | 376 | 24,263 | $2,875 | $ 1,487 | $ 543 |
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. | 261 | 27,659 | $2,733 | $ 658 | $ 583 |
Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. | 280 | 26,102 | $2,688 | $ 1,572 | $ 398 |
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. | 308 | 23,248 | $2,585 | $ 881 | $ 588 |
Baltimore-Towson, Md. | 229 | 26,578 | $2,555 | $ 962 | $ 486 |
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. | 227 | 24,084 | $2,379 | $ 757 | $ 436 |
Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio-Ky.-Ind. | 242 | 22,204 | $2,299 | $ 1,111 | $ 283 |
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn. | 252 | 20,837 | $2,238 | $ 1,574 | $ 408 |
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C. | 185 | 23,727 | $2,218 | $ 1,458 | $ 476 |
Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif. | 250 | 19,239 | $2,123 | $ 1,040 | $ 417 |
Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. | 245 | 19,396 | $2,118 | $ 1,087 | $ 171 |
Columbus, Ohio | 193 | 21,339 | $2,081 | $ 1,218 | $ 342 |
Pittsburgh | 261 | 16,187 | $1,951 | $ 818 | $ 158 |
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La. | 160 | 20,873 | $1,942 | $ 1,472 | $ 190 |
Memphis, Tenn.-Miss-Ark. | 222 | 17,676 | $1,926 | $ 1,527 | $ 311 |
Jacksonville, Fla. | 254 | 15,369 | $1,872 | $ 1,500 | $ 380 |
Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio | 114 | 21,739 | $1,852 | $ 871 | $ 132 |
Denver-Aurora, Colo. | 219 | 16,420 | $1,830 | $ 776 | $ 563 |
Raleigh-Cary, Durham, N.C. | 176 | 17,979 | $1,797 | $ 1,278 | $ 364 |
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash. | 174 | 17,566 | $1,762 | $ 841 | $ 361 |
Indianapolis, Ind. | 195 | 14,577 | $1,627 | $ 992 | $ 462 |
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. | 138 | 17,007 | $1,607 | $ 976 | $ 303 |
Oklahoma City, Okla. | 153 | 14,533 | $1,487 | $ 1,286 | $ 201 |
Louisville, Ky.-Ind. | 181 | 13,113 | $1,481 | $ 1,226 | $ 436 |
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisc. | 114 | 15,973 | $1,459 | $ 964 | $ 193 |
Little Rock-North Little Rock, Ark. | 114 | 15,879 | $1,453 | $ 2,258 | $ 165 |
Richmond, Va. | 158 | 12,822 | $1,387 | $ 1,180 | $ 197 |
Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, R.I.-Mass. | 147 | 13,319 | $1,385 | $ 854 | $ 276 |
Tulsa, Okla. | 151 | 11,385 | $1,266 | $ 1,426 | $ 184 |
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn. | 95 | 13,883 | $1,255 | $ 1,056 | $ 187 |
Tucson, Ariz. | 137 | 11,265 | $1,213 | $ 1,311 | $ 451 |
Albuquerque, N.M. | 129 | 11,575 | $1,208 | $ 1,514 | $ 348 |
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala. | 170 | 9,616 | $1,207 | $ 1,108 | $ 339 |
Salt Lake City, Utah | 82 | 13,502 | $1,187 | $ 1,147 | $ 258 |
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. | 118 | 10,882 | $1,125 | $ 641 | $ 537 |
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Tonawanda, N.Y. | 66 | 12,862 | $1,091 | $ 951 | $ 99 |
Columbia, S.C. | 154 | 8,538 | $1,082 | $ 1,568 | $ 166 |
New Haven-Milford, Conn. | 69 | 11,713 | $1,022 | $ 1,207 | $ 186 |
Rochester, N.Y. | 98 | 10,217 | $1,015 | $ 977 | $ 96 |
Bakersfield, Calif. | 177 | 6,236 | $1,000 | $ 1,321 | $ 140 |
Fresno, Calif. | 166 | 6,594 | $988 | $ 1,126 | $ 207 |
Dayton, Ohio | 111 | 9,025 | $976 | $ 1,156 | $ 170 |
Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa | 94 | 9,541 | $956 | $ 1,175 | $ 241 |
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. | 56 | 10,877 | $923 | $ 1,023 | $ 322 |
Charleston-North Charleston, S.C. | 123 | 7,686 | $923 | $ 1,552 | $ 312 |
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ | 117 | 7,736 | $907 | $ 1,148 | $ 221 |
Toledo, Ohio | 91 | 8,933 | $904 | $ 1,377 | $ 150 |
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. | 150 | 5,686 | $875 | $ 1,605 | $ 239 |
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Fla. | 128 | 6,622 | $867 | $ 1,288 | $ 244 |
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y. | 63 | 8,933 | $813 | $ 958 | $ 162 |
Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Fla. | 89 | 7,199 | $780 | $ 1,772 | $ 243 |
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich. | 80 | 7,205 | $751 | $ 974 | $ 232 |
Akron, Ohio | 60 | 7,904 | $734 | $ 1,045 | $ 101 |
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. | 71 | 6,266 | $658 | $ 826 | $ 395 |
Honolulu, Hawaii | 76 | 5,304 | $608 | $ 672 | $ 235 |
Colorado Springs, Colo. | 52 | 3,900 | $435 | $ 740 | $ 267 |
Spokane, Wash. | 34 | 4,681 | $429 | $ 975 | $ 78 |
Anchorage, Alaska | 38 | 4,274 | $415 | $ 1,181 | $ 96 |
Salem, Ore. | 44 | 3,618 | $389 | $ 1,037 | $ 138 |
Eugene-Springfield, Ore. | 35 | 1,700 | $230 | $ 685 | $ 133 |
Boulder, Colo. | 20 | 2,003 | $201 | $ 718 | $ 148 |
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. | $ 619 | ||||
Austin-Round Rock, Texas | $ 494 | ||||
Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas | $ 111 | ||||
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. | $ 447 | ||||
Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas | $ 73 | ||||
Corpus Christi, Texas | $ 98 | ||||
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas | $ 618 | ||||
El Paso, Texas | $ 236 | ||||
Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, Texas | $ 587 | ||||
Laredo, Texas | $ 115 | ||||
San Antonio, Texas | $ 390 | ||||
Springfield, Mass. | $ 108 | ||||
*Cost per person |
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