The empirical esti-
mates of the accident costs can be obtained in different ways. The costs of the direct eco-
nomic effects are relatively easy to estimate as they are directly observable effects. The
warm-blooded costs, on the other hand, are not observable, and the only way to deter-
mine them is on the basis of revealed or stated preferences for risk reductions.
In Table 10, an overview is given of all cost components of the different accident types.
The value of a statistical life is in line with the estimate used in the valuation of the cost
of air pollution in this study. We assume that the costs of accidents with material dam-
age are completely internalized (or that the external part is negligible).
To express these costs in terms of the year 2005, we made the same assumptions as for