New tool allows employers to calculate cost of motor vehicle crashes

Vienna, VA — Motor vehicle crashes cost U.S. employers up to $47.4 billion annually in direct expenses, according to the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety, which has developed a calculator to help organizations determine their own costs.

The Cost of Collisions Calculator has separate calculators for tabulating on- and off-the-job crashes, as well as one for determining return on investment for employee driving safety programs. It was developed through a cooperative agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“The old cliché of, ‘What gets measured, gets done’ is certainly true when developing an employer driving safety program,” NETS Executive Director Joseph McKillips said in a Jan. 16 post on Safety First, the blog of the National Safety Council. “One place to start is to measure a company’s cost of crashes, both on the job and off the job. This knowledge enables management to develop a business case that supports investment in employee-wide safe driving programs.”