The cost to society of traffic crashes is over three times that of congestion, according to a new report from AAA. The report makes a clear case for the importance of traffic safety projects – road, bike, and sidewalk improvements that typically cost less than road widenings sold to the public as congestion relievers (but which tend to increase driving and congestion in the long run).

According to the report, in 2009, fatal and non-fatal traffic crashes in urbanized areas had costs more than three times greater than the costs of congestion in those same areas. Costs associated with crashes — including property damage, lost household production, medical costs, and rehabilitation– were estimated to be $299.5 billion in 2009, while congestion costs for 2009 came in at $97.7 billion.

The report finds the highest per person crash costs are in smaller metropolitan areas, but in each metro area, the costs of crashes are higher than the costs of congestion. The total cost of crashes in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metro area was $29.5 billion ($1,548 per person) – more than 2.6 times the cost of congestion for the region ($10.9 billion, or $580 per person).

Researchers used data from the Federal Highway Administration on the costs of crashes, and the Texas Transportation Institute’s estimates of congestion costs. Though costs associated with crashes have increased since the AAA’s previous study (released in 2008, using data from 2005), the pattern of crashes costing more than congestion has held from the previous iteration of the study.

The report offers a number of broad recommendations such as increasing “collaboration between disciplines” and funds for data collection. Its boldest have to do with national leadership. The study argues that the US should “make zero fatalities a national goal” and make safety a national priority.

Graph: TSTC using data from AAA report.