US Study: One year of road crashes cost society $340 billion

DETROIT (AP) — Traffic crashes in the U.S. cost society $340 billion in one year, or just over $1,000 for each of the country’s 328 million people, according to a study by safety regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday it studied crashes in calendar year 2019 that killed an estimated 36,500 people, injured 4.5 million and damaged 23 million vehicles. The cost of the crashes amounted to 1.6% of the $21.4 trillion gross domestic product in 2019, the agency said. Losses due to crashes include medical costs, lost productivity, legal costs, emergency service expenses, property damage and workplace losses.