Citation

Witherington PF. Proc. IRCOBI 1975; 3: 171-179.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1975, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper discusses two problems associated with cost benefit and environmental analyses used to compare transport proposals: the error inherent in calculation which depends on subtracting numbers which are large compared with their difference; and the impossibility of making objective decisions when the various data describing consequences cannot be related to each other. The first problem could be minimized by rejecting high cost proposals when the likely range of benefits includes zero. The second problem can be overcome by assigning cash values to the benefits gained by persons on arrival at destinations. It is suggested that any benefit formulation should conform with the law of diminishing returns. This leads to a final benefit calculation which favors proposals which provide social equity rather than the reverse. The need to recognize saturation levels beyond which increases in benefit are meaningless to the individual is briefly discussed.