2015 - NZ - Valuing Injury and Mortality Risk in Transport

Report 571. This report describes a review of literature on approaches to valuing injury and mortality risk in transport assessments. It provides background on why injury and fatality risk need to be valued in transport risk, and how New Zealand has arrived at its current practices in using a value of statistical life (VOSL) in transport policy and project appraisals. It examines theoretical and empirical literature on the scope of valuations and what methods are used for application in both transport and other safety contexts, and the policy implications of the current state of methods. Drawing on the literature and some recent metaanalyses of values, this review makes recommendation on the updating of the current value and what additional information would be a priority for supplementing the basic VOSL.