Is a persons live worth 3 Million

Winty

THE PREVENTION of 14 deaths on the State’s roads would offset the €41 million annual cost of implementing a daytime running light policy for all vehicles, a Road Safety Authority consultation paper states.
Such a policy involves vehicles having low-beam headlights turned on during daylight hours. There are two types: dipped headlights and dedicated lights that automatically switch on when an engine is started. The system increases road safety levels by reducing collisions as vehicles are more visible.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0211/1224264202094.html


Are 14 lives worth 41 million?

That’s 3,000,000 a life.

I am not trying to be cruel;
I know every life is important and it could be my life that’s saved or somebody I love but if you have a cancer drug that cost 3,000,000 per patient would the Government give it out free?

silverharp

short answer no. Government regulation will tend to be very blunt and in my opinion fails opportunity cost analysis as in your example. If as in the example the regulation increases the cost of
motoring then how do they know that people wont die because they cant afford to maintain their cars or buy a new and safer one?
Another example is cars having to have airbags, I think I'm right in saying that they were developed because Americans wouldnt wear seat belts.
Its another one of these issues where there is a seen v unseen element to it.

granturismo

If DRL saves 14 lives how many nonfatal accidents will it prevent and what the associated costs with nonfatal accidents?

Also, I think the figure of €41m is way off. I've run my car with parking lights during daylight for about 5 years and have never replaced a parking light or back light in that time and have no reduction in mpg (or km/l).

Wile E. Coyote

You really think your life is not worth €3 million? If it was your mother, father, child etc that were dying would you tell them their life wasn't worth that much? I personally think a life is worth a lot more than €3 million.

And the cost isn't paid by the government it's paid for by the owners of all the cars on the road so the extra cost to you would only be about €15 per year. Still think thats too much to save 14 lives?

Winty

Hi Wile E. Coyote and everyone else

Yes I do think my life is not worth €3 million from a political point of view.

I posted this question in Political Theory as I wanted to understand what value a government should monetary place on a life. I used the day light driving as an example. I chose Political Theory in place of say Christianity as I want to understand the decision that I am sure Government departments make on a daily basis.

Let’s says a doctor discovers a cure for Cancer that can save ever suffer in Ireland. The cost is £3,000.000 per person.
Would and should a government pay that sum to save a thousands of people?
Should the tax payer fund Billions to save others?

In the UK the drug regulator “Nice” often refuse to issue a drug free on the NHS as it does not offer value for money.

Another example may be a section of road out side a school with a new traffic light that cost €1,000; this would be a great investment because for a small sum you can potentially save many lives.

How do you judge value for money when dealing with lives, where is the line drawn, when does it cost too much?

dvpower

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

You really think your life is not worth €3 million? If it was your mother, father, child etc that were dying would you tell them their life wasn't worth that much? I personally think a life is worth a lot more than €3 million.

How much so?
€3m is more than the vast majority of people earn in a lifetime and a prohibitively expensive price to spend on saving a life.

And the cost isn't paid by the government it's paid for by the owners of all the cars on the road so the extra cost to you would only be about €15 per year. Still think thats too much to save 14 lives?

Same price isn't it (granted, it sounds a lot better this way).
How about a €3m fine for any person found to be responsible for causing a road death to help pay for this measure?

Wile E. Coyote

dvpower wrote: »

How much so?
€3m is more than the vast majority of people earn in a lifetime and a prohibitively expensive price to spend on saving a life.

So do you value a life based on the amount that person could potentially earn over the course of their life? By that reasoning the life of a child who is born severely handicapped is worth nothing as they will probably never have a job. It also values the lives of the politicians who run this country well above the life of the majority of the population as we all know they earn a lot more than we do.

I understand that €3million is a lot of money but when you compare it to the billions that are being used to bail out the banks is it really that much?

To me you can't put a price on a life. If you do then where do you draw the line and how do you justify it? It's not like a crashed car where you just write it off if it costs too much to repair and buy a new one.

Winty

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

.

I understand that €3million is a lot of money but when you compare it to the billions that are being used to bail out the banks is it really that much?

Will every debate for the next 10 years have the line "bail out the banks" ?

What would you have done Wile E. Coyote let the banks go belly up and put Ireland back 100 years ???

Back to the OP, is a life worth £3,000,000

I think the sum should be closer to £100,000

Wile E. Coyote

Winty wrote: »

Will every debate for the next 10 years have the line "bail out the banks" ?

What would you have done Wile E. Coyote let the banks go belly up and put Ireland back 100 years ???

Back to the OP, is a life worth £3,000,000

I think the sum should be closer to £100,000

I only used the bank comparison because with it's extremely large value it's one most people can relate to. I also never said we shouldn't bail out the banks. I agree that it needed to be done but thats a topic thats been done to death.

What do you base the sum of €100,000 on? It's not really a lot in the grand scheme of things. That house or apartment you wake up in every day. That fancy car driving down the road. You really think these are worth more than a life?

Now i know you could turn around and argue that the house/apartment is overvalued and the car isn't worth the money but for arguement sake lets just leave them at the current price tag they have.

Winty

A human life is a simple commodity just like an acre of land or a lake of water.

A country needs humans to till the land and produce goods and services to keep the perpetual motion animated.

Humans are like cattle they need to be keep in good health and happy or the system will grind to a halt.

The €100,000 I guessed at is based on the amount of goods and services you can expect out of any one human. Some are better that other so it’s only a guess.

The Original Post was to try and quantify a method of estimating how much a human is worth.

A cow for instance that you milk over a 39 month period is easy to place a value on, so how can we do the same for a human.

I must repeat that this post is under Political Theory not Christianity or Humanities so we must based out calculation on fact not looking at humans as Mothers or Sons but units working for the greater good.

You would never pay a vet €500 to fix a Cow worth €100

silverharp

Winty wrote: »

A human life is a simple commodity just like an acre of land or a lake of water........
You would never pay a vet €500 to fix a Cow worth €100

how long is a piece of string? it would be a bit of a blunt instrument if you expect to guide policy based on such calculations. A scientist is more valuable then someone who is unemployed, a younger person is more valuable then an older person. A prolific criminal has a negetive value.

Then you would get into freedom issues, I'm sure banning motor cycles would save lives and health services for instance with little cost but I doubt there would be much political support for it.

goose2005

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

I only used the bank comparison because with it's extremely large value it's one most people can relate to. I also never said we shouldn't bail out the banks. I agree that it needed to be done but thats a topic thats been done to death.

What do you base the sum of €100,000 on? It's not really a lot in the grand scheme of things. That house or apartment you wake up in every day. That fancy car driving down the road. You really think these are worth more than a life?

Now i know you could turn around and argue that the house/apartment is overvalued and the car isn't worth the money but for arguement sake lets just leave them at the current price tag they have.

We're not talking about the cost of a life, but the cost of preserving a life. €3m is far too much: even a heart transplant only costs €500,000. This money could be much better spent on health facilities.

SugarHigh

I'm pretty sure the insurance companies place it at around the €250,000. That comes from some documentary I seen a while ago where they would only implement new safety features on an airplane if it saved enough lives to justify the cost.