4.6. Risk versus effectiveness
So far the issue of the economic costs associated with countermeasures that aim to change levels of risk and thereby the number of casualties or fatalities in the transport system has not been dealt with in this report. Riskbenefit assessment has been applied in such diverse fields as medicine, public health and environmental protection. The methods used in these
fields might also be applied to the field of motor-vehicle safety (Thompson, Graham & Zellner, 2001). Risk-benefit analyses can be categorised according to the situation and may include cases where:
- neither risks nor benefits can be readily quantified;
- risks can be quantified, but benefits cannot readily be quantified (or vice versa);
- risks and benefits are quantified in very different terms or units;
- risks and benefits are quantified in similar terms.