PSY 409A Driving Psychology, March 13, 2006

PSY 409A Driving Psychology, March 13, 2006

The Costs of Traffic Safety that Effect Your Workplace

By: Melanie Baldueza

Peter Rothe, Editor (2002). Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer. (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press) Barta, Walter. From Workplace to Community. Pages 173-192.

Instructions for this outline:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm

I. The costs of traffic safety

a. Micro-level costs: directly affects the individual

b. Macro-level costs: affects society as a whole which includes lost of life or injury.

c. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1998): Estimated numbers of costs of traffic collisions

i. 37,081 fatal crashes

ii. 2,029,000 injury collisions

iii. $150.5 billion economic costs of traffic crashes

d. Societal costs: willingness to pay

i. The amounts that NHTSA came up with were costs that reflect the goods and services that were needed when cars are involved in crashes.

1. Didn’t represent the costs of an individual’s needs.

ii. Comprehensive costs

1. “Intangible” costs of accidents

2. Add economic costs with comprehensive costs, it doubled the first figure that was quoted to $336 billion.

iii. Macro-level safety initiatives are affected by micro-level judgments and the two have conflicts

1. Two problems with macro-barriers

a. Governments are having a hard time prioritizing safety laws and sticking to them.

b. Hard to change the behavior of the public, especially when one is the agent posing the most risk.

iv. Making cars safer are accepted more than programs that focus on society’s driving behavior.

v. Laws are passed instead of education on driving tendencies.

vi. 85% of collisions are caused by behavioral factors.

II. Toward the workplace

a. Important component in micro-level economics is the workplace.

b. Car crashes are the primary cause of death and injury, on and off the job.

c. Macro-level costs are the organizational costs

d. Most victims in car crashes routinely drove to do things that were work related.

i. Sales representatives, buyers, and clients

e. Organizational costs add up in a variety of ways

i. Lost time: When people are in accidents, they lose time. May include hospital stays, time to repair their car, and doctor’s appointments.

ii. Sick leave: Person has physical and emotional stress due to the accident, and may take sick leave to recover and regain their composure.

iii. Temporary worker costs: Productivity in the work place goes down because the person who is not there cannot do his job, therefore someone must pick-up the slack, but the new person is not familiar with that certain job.

iv. Insurance costs: Protection for future accidents or loss. Companies pay for the premiums.

v. Lawsuits: This happens when someone is injured and feels that the company was responsible for their accident.

vi. Reduced efficiency and productivity: When the injured worker is out, they must find a new person to cover his work. The new person is inexperienced and the efficiently and productivity of the company is reduced.

vii. Reduced morale: Co-workers of the worker who is injured misses that person and feels the loss in the company. This may lead to reduced efficiency and productivity.

viii. Corporate image: image and brand loyalty.

f. More than half of those injured resulted in lost time at work

g. Health fringe-benefits costs: Costs of benefits paid because of sickness and injury

i. Sick leave, social security, health, disability and life insurance

h. Non-fringe benefit costs: This includes car damage and liability insurance.

i. Help fund police, fire and ambulance services

i. Wage-risk premiums: Paid to workers for taking risky jobs. Viewed as payment advances for future loss.