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Estimation of Willingness to Pay and Value of Statistical Life for Road Crash Fatality Reduction for Motorcyclists: A Case Study of Patna, India

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Abstract

India suffers from huge economic losses as a result of road accidents and unfortunately rank first in the world in terms of fatal road accidents, accounting for around 11% of world road accident deaths. Evaluation of road safety improvement strategies is essential and this requires estimate of social cost of road crashes and fatalities. The social cost of road crash fatalities is estimated with Value of Statistical Life (VSL), which uses individuals’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for crash fatality reduction and can be used for economic evaluation of alternative improvement projects. Estimated WTP varies with the method of estimation. The two most popular methods of WTP estimation are contingent valuation method using payment card and stated choice method. The contingent valuation method is believed to underestimate the WTP. Limited work aims to compare WTP and VSL estimates from both methods in Indian context. This work compares WTP and VSL estimates for Indian motorcyclists’ crash fatality reduction using direct payment card and indirect stated choice methods. 401 and 410 motorcyclists’ from Patna, India participated in payment card and stated route choice surveys respectively. WTP for safety from stated choice method was estimated using discrete choice binary logit model calibrated for route choice with cost and safety as determinants. The effect of socio-demographic user characteristics on WTP was studied by developing regression model. Average WTP estimated for 50% crash fatality reduction were Rs. 353.13 and Rs. 792 using direct and indirect methods respectively. VSL obtained were Rs. 46.15 × 105 (61.81 × 103 USD) and Rs. 76,600 (1.03 × 103 USD) with direct and indirect methods respectively. Gender, occupation and income were observed to influence WTP. Motorcyclists’ concern for safety was seen to increase with age, educational level and personal crash experience. Estimated WTP and VSL and influence of socio-demographic characteristics on WTP will be useful for design and evaluation of road safety improvement strategies for motorcyclists in Indian context.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Patna, 800005, India

    Sweta Bharti, Ranja Bandyopadhyaya & Nandan Kumar Raju

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  1. Sweta Bharti
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  2. Ranja Bandyopadhyaya
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  3. Nandan Kumar Raju
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Correspondence to Ranja Bandyopadhyaya.

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Bharti, S., Bandyopadhyaya, R. & Raju, N.K. Estimation of Willingness to Pay and Value of Statistical Life for Road Crash Fatality Reduction for Motorcyclists: A Case Study of Patna, India. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A 103, 1315–1323 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-022-00680-y

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