The US DOT may technically have official guidance for the value of a statistical life, but I don’t think this actually informs much of the department’s priorities. Most DOT spending is on projects that can be expected to increase the number of roadway deaths due to increased speed and increased miles driven.
The US DOT budget is set by Congress and Congress has allocated most of that budget to programs other than safety (mainly highway expansions). I don’t think DOT is even allowed to enforce its VSL when making grants to states.
The reality is that there are some roadway interventions that are way better than $10MM per life. Protected bike lane networks, for example, save lives for well under $100,000 each. But due to a mix of funding constraints, legislation, jurisdiction, and institutional inertia, DOT is not doing many of those projects.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve done a ton of research on this question but here are a couple of studies I’ve seen on this:
This report studied projects in Bogotá and Guangzhou and found that spending $1MM would save 2.27 or 1.38 lives per year (respectively). If you assume the infrastructure lasts 30 years that gives you $14,662 or $24,154 per life saved (respectively).
This study looked at bike lanes in NYC and basically found that the error bars are too wide to conclude anything; but their midpoint was $1297/QALY so perhaps somewhere around $50,000 per life saved.
The US DOT may technically have official guidance for the value of a statistical life, but I don’t think this actually informs much of the department’s priorities. Most DOT spending is on projects that can be expected to increase the number of roadway deaths due to increased speed and increased miles driven.
The US DOT budget is set by Congress and Congress has allocated most of that budget to programs other than safety (mainly highway expansions). I don’t think DOT is even allowed to enforce its VSL when making grants to states.
The reality is that there are some roadway interventions that are way better than $10MM per life. Protected bike lane networks, for example, save lives for well under $100,000 each. But due to a mix of funding constraints, legislation, jurisdiction, and institutional inertia, DOT is not doing many of those projects.
Link?
I wouldn’t say that I’ve done a ton of research on this question but here are a couple of studies I’ve seen on this:
This report studied projects in Bogotá and Guangzhou and found that spending $1MM would save 2.27 or 1.38 lives per year (respectively). If you assume the infrastructure lasts 30 years that gives you $14,662 or $24,154 per life saved (respectively).
This study looked at bike lanes in NYC and basically found that the error bars are too wide to conclude anything; but their midpoint was $1297/QALY so perhaps somewhere around $50,000 per life saved.