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Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of accidental death in the United States. In 2014, more than 32,600 Americans were killed and more than 2.3 million were injured in crashes.1 The direct and indirect costs of crashes are substantial. One study found that crash-related costs-which include a variety of costs, such as medical care, productivity, and travel delay-reached at least $242 billion in 2010.2 And this estimate does not fully capture the price of all consequences, including long-term harm to family and community quality of life.
A wide range of evidence-based policy and program interventions can help prevent vehicle crash injuries and deaths. However, with limited resources, state policymakers must choose the interventions that will provide the greatest reductions for the money spent. To do this, they need to understand how much interventions will cost and how effective they will be in their state.
While information on effectiveness has been available for specific interventions, the information is generally specific to the particular location where the intervention was implemented. In addition, information on the costs of implementing these interventions is relatively limited.
To address this problem, the RAND Corporation, with funding from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, developed an online tool called Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS) that generates state-specific cost-effectiveness estimates. The tool is available for free at www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/calculator.
MV PICCS allows users to compare 14 interventions on cost and effectiveness. These 14 interventions were selected based on the following four criteria. The interventions:
1. Are meant to change driver or passenger behavior (as opposed to changes to roadway or vehicle engineering);
2. Can be implemented (or influenced) by states;
3. Are demonstrated to be effective, based on past research; and
4. Are not already in widespread use.
Table 1 describes the 14 interventions, along with their estimated effectiveness in reducing deaths within specific types of crashes. For example, red-light cameras are expected to reduce deaths that occur at signalized intersections by 17 percent.
Using MV PICCS to Identify Cost-Effective Interventions by State
MV PICCS determines the cost-effectiveness of each intervention in each state. Costs are defined as the cost paid by the...