research >>cost-effectiveness of Safety interventions

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Investments in traffic safety interventions can have a greater impact on population health than investment in some chronic diseases. To achieve this goal, accurate measures of cost-effectiveness of traffic safety interventions are needed. Applying the World Health Organization's "burden of disease" yardsticks, the cost per year of life saved (LYS), and cost per quality-adjusted life-year saved (QALY), is one way to measure outcomes consistently. Interventions can be described on comparable basis by using the Haddon matrix, which takes into account the causal agents in the crash and the chronological stages where they have an effect: pre-crash, crash, and the immediate aftermath. Our review found that assessment methods vary considerably among studies, and cost-effectiveness ratings vary over an enormous range, to the point where their usefulness is doubtful in many cases. Cost-effectiveness evaluations need to be improved and made more consistent and systematic.

TSC Resources

"Measuring Safety Measures: A new toolkit for local agencies to evaluate their interventions." TSC Online Newsletter. December 2002.

Vahidnia F, Walsh JA, MD, MSc., Cost-Effectiveness of Traffic Safety Interventions in the United States, Research Report UCB-TSC-RR-2002-01. March 2002.