Estimating the Value of Life and Injury for Pedestrians Using a Stated Preference Framework

Introduction: The incidence of pedestrian death over the period 2010 to 2014 per 1000,000 in North Cyprus is about 2.5 times that of the EU, with 10.5 times more pedestrian road injuries than deaths. With the prospect of North Cyprus entering the EU, many investments need to be undertaken to improve road safety in order to reach EU benchmarks. Method: We conducted a stated choice experiment to identify the preferences and tradeoffs of pedestrians in North Cyprus for improved walking times, pedestrian costs, and safety. The choice of route was examined using mixed logit models to obtain the marginal utilities associated with each attribute of the routes that consumers chose. These were used to estimate the individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) to save walking time and to avoid pedestrian fatalities and injuries. We then used the results to obtain community-wide estimates of the value of a statistical life (VSL) saved, the value of an injury (VI) prevented, and the value per hour of walking time saved.Results: The estimate of the VSL was €699,434 and the estimate of VI was €20,077. These values are consistent, after adjusting for differences in incomes, with the median results of similar studies done for EU countries. Conclusions: The ratio of deaths to injuries is much higher for pedestrians than for road accidents, and this is completely consistent with the higher WTP to avoid a pedestrian accident than that to avoid a car accident. Moreover, the value of risk reduction (VRR) is perfectly rational for a given reduction in the probability of a fatality and an injury, which means it is an increasing function of the initial risk level. Practical Applications: Findings provide a set of information on the VRR that is useful in the ex ante appraisal of road projects for specific policy measures.