On the joint valuation of averting fatal and severe injuries in highway accidents.

INTRODUCTION To evaluate the benefits of road transport safety projects, planners need the monetary value of averting fatal and severe injuries. Usually, contingent valuation and risk-risk studies have been used. The contexts posed by both survey techniques do not represent the choice situation a driver faces when having to choose among alternative routes with different levels of safety. METHOD We set up a stated choice web page survey in which individuals had to choose between two routes for a hypothetical trip between two cities; thus implicitly revealing their preferences for safety both in terms of reducing the number of fatal victims and of severely injured victims. RESULTS For Chilean routes we were able to estimate approximate values of US$300,000 and US$140,000 for a reduction in one fatality and one severely injured victim, respectively. IMPACTS Our evidence could be valuable for road planners in other developing nations.