Car crashes cost us $93m

Car crashes are costing the Western Bay about $93 million a year with one intersection responsible for a huge share of the total.
The New Zealand Transport Agency released statistics to the Bay of Plenty Times that show what crashes cost the area in 2009, the latest year that the data is available for.
The notorious Belk Rd and State Highway 29 T-intersection topped the list of the Western Bay's most expensive junctions.
The junction has been the scene of countless crashes in recent years, including a collision that killed Tauranga man Richard Levis in May 2009.
Belk Rd resident Susan Drury said today that she warned her visitors to take extra caution "because we know what that corner is like".
"We have heard and seen a few accidents in our time here."
Ms Drury had almost been in an accident on the corner as she couldn't see an oncoming car and it had to swerve to miss her. "It wasn't anything horrific but it gave me a hell of a fright. I didn't see him at all."
Local residents turning right on to SH29 knew to manoeuvre their vehicles to the left when making a right turn, in order to see better.
Another Belk Rd resident Barbara Pennell said cars went fast around the corner "and there is little old Belk Rd sitting there waiting".
She knew of several people involved in accidents at the intersection, including herself when someone crashed into the rear of her car.
"It's a rotten corner, it really is.
"I don't think people take a heck of a lot of noticed of [concealed exit] signs and things."
The social costs of the Western Bay roads were reached by adding the cost of loss of life and life quality, loss of output due to temporary incapacitation, medical costs, legal costs and property damage costs.
Tauranga City Council transportation operations manager Martin Parkes said the social cost to the region was almost entirely preventable.
"Ninety-five per cent of crashes are down to driver error or drivers becoming distracted," Mr Parkes said.
A fatal crash could cost more than a million dollars, Mr Parkes said.
"It's huge. While people might see the accident when it happens, they don't see the rest. They don't think about all the cost involved with the after-care, the loss of earnings and all those things that flow on from crashes, particularly around fatal crashes.
"It costs $1.2m for every fatal crash, and we just had one [on Wednesday]."
Mr Parkes said a combination of better education, enforcement and engineering would help address the problem.
He said people also needed to be made aware of the ongoing costs.
"These costs seem to get hidden from the community. Hopefully it will bring it home to people as taxpayers just how much they are paying.
"You think, if you didn't have to pay that money, what else could you do with it? How many hospitals or schools could you build? It's almost like money being poured down the drain."
From 2005 to 2009 there were 1870 crashes in the Western Bay, 32 were fatal while 592 resulted in injury.
Poor handling and poor observation by drivers were recorded as the biggest causes of crashes.
The costs incorporated crashes on city and urban roads throughout the region.