Unrepaired Crash Damage-Implications for Cost-Benefit Analyses

A major difficulty in performing cost-benefit analyses of bumper designs is the fact that much of the damage from low-speed crashes is never reported either to public agencies or insurers. Much of this unreported crash damage remains unrepaired, at least for some time after the crash, and thus surveys of unrepaired crash damage can provide one source of data for some of the unreported crash damage.

During the summer of 1974, surveys of unrepaired crash damage were conducted in seven metropolitan areas. The results of these surveys are presented.

It is concluded that the present state of knowledge on the frequency and amount of unreported crash damage is too limited to enable this essential component to be adequately incorporated into cost-benefit analysis of bumper designs.