D.C. Area Accidents Cost $7.4 Billion a Year

The Washington Post is reporting that car, truck and motorcycle accidents in the D.C. area cost $7.4 billion a year.  Nationally, traffic accidents cost more than $300 billion.

This statistic comes from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report that in 2009 there were 350 traffic fatalities and 42,556 injuries in car accidents in addition to the countless accidents that only involve property damage.  But researchers had to reach further than the hard costs included in medical bills and auto body repairs.  The dollar figure also includes value of a lost life, lost wages, time lost on the job and other factors that impact a person's quality of life.

The only silver lining on these statistics may be that car accidents in DC are, per crash, cheaper than the national average.  The per capita cost of a DC crash is $1,363.  The national average is $1,522.  The Post speculates that this lower cost is due, at least in part, to the fact that most crashes in DC occur at relatively low speeds due to the area's traffic conditions.

In calculating the cost of traffic accidents, the report pulled data from D.C., cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park, plus counties of Fairfax, Arlington, Charles, Loudoun, Montgomery, Prince George's and Prince William.