In cost-benefit-analysis concerning road safety measures, the intangible costs of an accident (a component of accident costs) are determined by the value of a statistical life (VOSL). The VOSL is also used to determine the intangible costs of nonfatal accidents and intangible costs of noise exposure and air pollution. Up to now, there are no reliable estimates of the VOSL for Switzerland.
This project endeavours to determine actual and reliable values of the VOSL. At the beginning, alternative (survey) methods for the determinantion of the VOSL will be tested. The most suitable appraoch will then be used in a survey that is representative at the national level. Form what we know today, the most promising appraoch to dtermine the VOSL is a contingent valuation that takes the most recent findings from behavioural economics into account. In particular, the approach is designed to reveal the political willingness to pay with a survey experiment. This approach allows considering different risk contexts (road and rail) and severity of accidents for the estimation of the VOSL.
In a first step, different approaches will be tested and the survey questionnaire will be designed. For this, focus group and expert discussions as well as pilot surveys will take place. A pretest will then help to formulate well designed questions. The survey will be conducted in a second step. In the third step we perform the statistical analysis and a validity test. In the fourth step an expert workshop to discuss the results will take place and a proposition for a VOSL applicable for the norm SN 641 820ff. will be developed.