Keith Vodden Dr. Douglas Smith - Transports Canada

Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario
We apply these fully-loaded costs to the mix of OPP staff hours identified in the
earlier section to identify a fully-loaded average cost per police hour of activity expended
related to motor vehicle collisions. This fully loaded weighted average is $82.73 (2006$)
or $78 in 2004. We assume that other police forces operating in Ontario will have a
similar cost structure. We apply this weighted average fully-loaded hourly amount to
police activity expended. Potentially this average exceeds the marginal cost of an extra
police hour devoted to a motor vehicle collision. However, any difference is viewed as
being small.
4. Court activities
Data from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics of Statistics Canada provide
an estimate of court costs to police costs over a five-year period based on the total
expenditures by each. Using this percentage (14.7%) and the fully loaded police costs
noted earlier we estimate a cost for court proceedings related to motor vehicle collisions.
This method assumes that court proceedings related to motor vehicle collisions are as
likely as for other police activities.
5. Fire department costs
The Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office provided 2003 data on operating expenditures
($1.118 billion) and total responses (447,181) by fire departments in Ontario. This results
in an average total cost per response of $2,501 (2003$). Converting to 2004 dollars this
represents an average response cost of $2,548.
We believe the average cost per response provides a useful estimate of the costs
per motor vehicle collision response:
• The high fixed operating costs (most costs such as buildings, vehicles, and staff
are unavoidable) and the low variable costs (fuel use) of a response, suggest there
is unlikely to be a dramatic difference in average costs by type of response.
• In 2003, almost two-thirds of all fire department calls were for medical aid
including resuscitation (40%) or were related to false alarms (23%). Most calls
related to motor vehicle collisions are for rescue or extrication (9% of all calls in
2003). These typical responses to motor vehicle collisions are likely to have a
similar duration and resource use to the majority of calls noted earlier. This
suggests that the average costs across all responses should be similar to the costs
for motor vehicle collisions.
• Calls related to property fires/explosions are likely to have a higher duration and
resource use than the average response. (However even including motor vehicle
fires, property fires represent a small component (5% in 2003) of all responses.
For these reasons we feel the average costs of a response by fire departments
provides a useful measure of the costs of a response related to a motor vehicle collision.
34 TNS Canadian Facts, Social and Policy Research