Found something out today.

Ben M · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:09

This evening I was doing a 3 hour theory session, as part of my pass plus (dragondriver scheme). Lots of interesting and helpful stuff etc etc etc.

Then they started saying all the usual facts and figures, but one stood out.

If a car, with 1 person in it (the driver) is in an accident (on its own) and the driver dies. The average cost to the taxpayer is £1,250,000 (£1.25million)

:eek:

fonzee · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:14

doubt it tbh

Muncher · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:15

Hmmm, I doubt it.

What bills does the taxpayer face?

- Insurer or third party insurer will pick up the bill for the ambulance and hospital costs

- The fire service and Police are on duty anyway so there is no additional cost from them

- Funeral is taken care of by the deceased's family

- The cost of an inquest is the only other element, there's no way that's going to be £1.25m and it's ran be the coroner who is a salaried civil servant anyway.

Furthermore anything the government spends in a cyclical way funds consumer purchases so has no effect.

pinkaardvark · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:15

So if I go sit in my car now and have a heart attack and pop me clogs it will cost 1.25 mill? doubt it

InvaderGIR · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:17

pinkaardvark said:
So if I go sit in my car now and have a heart attack and pop me clogs it will cost 1.25 mill? doubt it

Hehehe. He did say accident, not if people randomly die in their cars.

InvG

Luke · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:18

Regardless. Sounds like a very inappropriate average to me.

pinkaardvark · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:20

InvaderGIR said:
Hehehe. He did say accident, not if people randomly die in their cars.

InvG

He said car was in an accident, may have been a parking ding at asdas the week before, which upon discovery leads to the epic aforementioned coronary

Phil W · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:22

Wonder what the relevance of that is to you being a capable driver on the road.

InvaderGIR · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:22

pinkaardvark said:
He said car was in an accident, may have been a parking ding at asdas the week before, which upon discovery leads to the epic aforementioned coronary

Made me laugh certainly.

The figure does seem 'a little' out though to be honest, especially as it's an average. Does that mean that most cost like £3million, but one cost £50 which brings the average down?

InvG

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:33

What happens if you're in a canoe with wheels on the road and die in a crash?

Tom|Nbk · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:33

Muncher · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:34

To be honest the figure is probably not far off the cost an insurer faces for a RTA fatality.

al123 · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:46

Could possibly have some truth?

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/ea/highwayseconomicnoteno12004?page=1

Sparky · 21 Jan 2008 at 22:53

Freefaller said:
What happens if you're in a canoe with wheels on the road and die in a crash?

Be the same as thats a Honda Jazz

Muncher · 21 Jan 2008 at 23:00

al123 said:
Could possibly have some truth?

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/ea/highwayseconomicnoteno12004?page=1

But they put values on these things...

. The values for the prevention of fatal, serious and slight casualties include the following elements of cost:

loss of output due to injury. This is calculated as the present value of the expected loss of earnings plus any non-wage payments (national insurance contributions, etc.) paid by the employer.
ambulance costs and the costs of hospital treatment.
human costs, based on WTP values, which represent pain, grief and suffering to the casualty, relatives and friends, and, for fatal casualties, the intrinsic loss of enjoyment of life over and above the consumption of goods and services.

It's just more pointless civil servants in non jobs coming up with arguments for revenue generation (speed cameras, fuel duty, road tax).

Goksly · 21 Jan 2008 at 23:04

The figures are correct. Have you seen how much Quincy charges per hour?

benjo plz. · 21 Jan 2008 at 23:07

CS||nuTs said:
same as a Skoda

Fixed

al123 · 21 Jan 2008 at 23:07

Muncher said:
But they put values on these things...

. The values for the prevention of fatal, serious and slight casualties include the following elements of cost:

loss of output due to injury. This is calculated as the present value of the expected loss of earnings plus any non-wage payments (national insurance contributions, etc.) paid by the employer.
ambulance costs and the costs of hospital treatment.
human costs, based on WTP values, which represent pain, grief and suffering to the casualty, relatives and friends, and, for fatal casualties, the intrinsic loss of enjoyment of life over and above the consumption of goods and services.

It's just more pointless civil servants in non jobs coming up with arguments for revenue generation (speed cameras, fuel duty, road tax).

Yes I agree that’s what I thought when I read it. It does help with a possible explanation of where the £1.25million figure comes from? I’ve had a quick look but I’m not finding much for actual costs of the average fatal accident.

Muncher · 21 Jan 2008 at 23:13

al123 said:
Yes I agree that’s what I thought when I read it. It does help with a possible explanation of where the £1.25million figure comes from? I’ve had a quick look but I’m not finding much for actual costs of the average fatal accident.

I Wouldn't be surpised if they did something silly, such as ascribe "£800k due to person being sad about now being dead".

The thing about employer's NI insurance contributions is rubbish, as unless they were making the dead person redundant the employer would simply employ someone else and pay employer's NI contributions for them!