Study puts a price on the value of life in South Africa
A study conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa shows that the country lost R142 billion in 2015, as a direct result of costs arising from road traffic accidents that year.
The group found that South Africa experienced 12,944 fatalities in 10,613 road accidents, incurring a cost to the economy of R142.95 billion rand.
Of this amount, R99.03 billion was incurred in human casualty costs, R21.33 billion in vehicle repair costs and R22.60 billion in incident costs.
The cost of human casualties is broken down in terms of lost productivity (how much a person could have contributed, economically), associated pain, grief and suffering experienced, as well as a loss of quality of life, for survivors and.or those left behind.
Other factors such as medical treatment, funeral processes, costs to companies to re-fill positions.
According to the CSIR’s data, when someone is killed in a road accident, the total cost suffered (ie “value” of that lost life) is R5.23 million.
| Cost | Fatality | Major injury | Minor injury | Damage only | Any severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lost productivity | 2 878 177 | 217 253 | 29 504 | 2 094 | 55 331 |
| Pain, grief, suffering and lost quality of life | 2 123 994 | 287 173 | 47 509 | – | 49 842 |
| Medical treatment | 147 143 | 110 656 | 32 681 | – | 12 509 |
| Funeral | 16 613 | – | – | – | 222 |
| Workplace re-occupation | 68 638 | 2 949 | – | – | 1 061 |
| Total Human Cost | 5 234 565 | 618 031 | 109 694 | 2 094 | 118 965 |
While it may seem cold to put a number on a human life, such figures are vital in conducting cost-benefit analysis in a variety of sectors. For example, it is economically viable to spend R100 million on road safety measures to prevent an economic loss of R1 billion.
According to the CSIR, it’s important that such figures are looked at scientifically, though more research needs to be done into how road accidents impact South Africa’s healthcare system.
Only through looking at all the data, can the true value of a life – or rather the true cost of accidents – be determined.
In 2015, BusinessTech looked at various sources to determine the ‘value’ of a human life in the country, and found that a single life in South Africa is placed at anywhere between R3.4 million and R24.2 million.
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