In August 1989, Mrs Hutching's first husband, Ross Grey, was killed when a railing gave way and he fell through a glass window at the NZI building in Queen St, Auckland. The pair had only recently married.
Mrs Hutching has three children - two to Mr Grey and a daughter to Mr Hutching.
The Social Cost of Road Crashes and Injuries report, released yesterday by the Ministry of Transport, measures the total cost of crashes to the nation, including loss of life and life quality, loss of productivity, medical, legal, court and property damage costs.
It found the social cost of each fatal crash was $4.32 million - a figure that incorporated medical and hospital costs, legal and court costs and property damage - while the cost of each life lost was $3.67 million.
"All ongoing costs are incorporated in the estimates. In other words, the social-costs estimates is a measure of the true costs of road crashes and injuries," the report said.
For Mrs Hutching, her husbands' funerals, time off work to grieve and the loss of an income were all costs the family had to endure.
"I still think about Mark every day and I still think about Ross frequently too ... You lose what your past life was like and what your expected future life was like."
Mrs Hutching said the saying, "It's better late than never", rang true for drivers this Easter weekend.
"Take care and take your time - there's more traffic and everyone's in a rush to get somewhere ... You've got to have driver courtesy and if someone doesn't let you in or is horrible, just back off and let it go."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport, which publishes the social costs report annually, said understanding the costs helped to quantify the benefits from safety improvements and inform the best allocation of resources to road safety.
"The latest estimate will be incorporated into the Crash Analysis System, a database used to analyse road crashes. This is then used for evaluating the safety component of any roading project as well for looking at how to prioritise other safety initiatives."
The report estimated the total social cost of all car crashes was $4.15 billion in 2010, down from $4.37 billion the year before. Officials say fatalities have dropped 2 per cent and serious injuries 5 per cent.
Ministry financial and economic performance group chief Gareth Chaplin said the cost of crashes last year was the lowest since 2008.
"While we use this data to support investment in better and safer roads and infrastructure, the truth is that the social cost of road injury crashes can only be lowered if the number of crashes reduces," Mr Chaplin said.
"Road crashes have significant impacts on those involved. We look to reduce this by using a range of safety interventions such as those included in the Safer Journeys" - the government strategy to guide improvements in road safety from 2010 to 2020.
"The government and related agencies have always been enforcing this message," Mr Chaplin said.
The report also revealed the social cost for each person seriously hurt in a crash is $625,000.
Mr Chaplin said the estimates given in the report provided a way of putting value on road safety impacts to society.
"Apart from financial impacts, road crashes also cause distress, pain and suffering to the injured as well as their loved ones.
"Putting a dollar value on a life allows us to consider these often intangible costs in our policy decision-making processes, particularly when it comes to prioritising competing proposals."
