Human Capital Approach for road accident costing in an Indian City

The monetization of road crashes helps improve road safety awareness. This study focuses on the cost of Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) in Ernakulam, a South Indian city, based on the Human Capital (HC) methodology, as it is most effective to estimate the cost of RTAs in developing nations. The loss is calculated from various data sources, including in-depth accident databases (police), questionnaire surveys, private hospital records, and vehicle garage bills considering the collision types. Most of the total costs are attributed to lost productivity, followed by medical expenses, vehicle damage, and human costs. Administrative costs comprise the smallest portion (0.73%) of the overall accident costs. The total cost estimation of RTAs in Ernakulam city for the years 2018 to 2021 is in the range of INR 66,96,04,438 to INR 103,05,12,440, which represents 0.44% to 0.7% of the city’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is a non-repairable loss to the nation.