What's Your Life Worth?
News: Societal Cost Components for Fatalities, 1972 NHTSA Study
Here is a chart from a federal study showing how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has calculated the value of a human life. The estimate was arrived at under pressure from the auto industry. The Ford Motor Company has used it in cost-benefit analyses arguing why certain safety measures are not "worth" the savings in human lives. The calculation below is a breakdown of the estimated cost to society every time someone is killed in a car accident. We were not able to find anyone, either in the government or at Ford, who could explain how the $10,000 figure for "pain and suffering" had been arrived at.
| COMPONENT | 1971 COSTS |
| Future Productivity Losses Direct Indirect Medical Costs Hospital other Property Damage Insurance Administration Legal and Court Employer Losses Victim's Pain and Suffering Funeral Assets (Lost Consumption) Miscellaneous Accident Cost | $132,000 41,300 |
| TOTAL PER FATALITY: $200,725 | |