Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada
Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada
Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada
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Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario<br />
Based on data from the 1993 General Social Survey of Statistics <strong>Canada</strong>, 52.1%<br />
of individuals 15 years of age or older (based on coverage of the survey) involved in<br />
motor vehicle collisions on roadways in Ontario incurred out-of-pocket expenses that<br />
were not reimbursed by another party. In 1993, the average out-of-pocket expense was<br />
$719 ($882 in 2004$).<br />
Based on data found in ORSAR for 2004 we estimate 1.3 survivors of collisions<br />
16 years of age and older (a proxy to those 15 and over) per vehicle involved in injury<br />
and fatality collisions. We apply this factor to all vehicles involved in collisions and<br />
estimate a total out-of-pocket cost for them of $206 million in 2004.<br />
10. Social Costs of Traffic Delays<br />
In this section of the report we estimate traffic delays cause by motor vehicle<br />
collisions and the resulting impact on:<br />
• Time losses.<br />
• Fuel use.<br />
• Extra pollution<br />
a) Introduction<br />
This section of our report provides an estimate of traffic delay costs based on a<br />
sample of data relating to motor vehicle collisions on specified roadways in the Toronto<br />
area. This research is preliminary in the sense that there is not a well-established research<br />
literature in this area to establish an analysis framework and there is no consistent overall<br />
data for Ontario on which to base estimates. In this context, our approach has been to<br />
build the best possible estimate using what are clearly limited data resources. Related<br />
work has been carried out by MTO in its publication The Cost of Congestion in the GTA<br />
and by Transport <strong>Canada</strong> in their publication Urban Congestion in <strong>Canada</strong>. However,<br />
both of these studies focus on recurring congestion issues rather than collision-based<br />
stoppages and delays. Recurring congestion is generally defined as inadequate capacity<br />
of the road system to handle traffic volumes as opposed to what are usually collisionbased<br />
incidents in our analysis.<br />
Estimating the costs of traffic delays resulting from motor vehicle collisions is a<br />
challenging task. It requires data on the following:<br />
• Motor vehicle collisions causing delays.<br />
• Number of persons affected. In this report, the number of persons affected is<br />
based on MTO data on traffic volumes (24 hour traffic distribution data) for that<br />
roadway at the time and date of the incident. That is, for each incident, the<br />
COMPASS data were matched with the relevant MTO data on traffic volumes to<br />
determine the number of persons affected.<br />
148 TNS Canadian Facts, Social and Policy Research