I Hate to Say I Told You - What is a Life Worth?
What’s a 7% reduction in fatalities? 744 lives in 2002 compared to 689 in 2004. Percentages and lives don’t mean that much though, unless you own one of those little roadside crosses that you visit with flowers from time to time.
However, miles driven from 2002 to 2004 increased, and yet, with a very simple piece of software, the GPS tracking system already installed in officer’s cars for other police/safety reasons, Pennsylvania avoided 55 deaths in two years.
It’s hard to put a cost on a human life, but let’s, for sake of argument, say that an average death costs society at least $2500,000 in overall life cycle costs. That’s nearly $14,000,000 saved. I’m not familiar with the exact GPS tracking system used by the Pennsylvania State Police but even with every bell and whistle imaginable they have likely spend less than a million.
So if you don’t care much about human suffering .. all business … hard core … just think of the 14 to 1 or better GPS Return On Investment (ROI) shown here.
The I told you so part in the title? You know my line by now … you can’t manage what you can’t measure. I’ve been preaching this same use of technology to police departments and other emergency responders for years … thank goodness Pennsylvania had ears … I’m sure the 55 people who didn’t die would thank them too, if they knew.
Accident records in most states today are kept at a resolution of a mile or so at best. If 10 accidents occur in mile 123 of a certain highway, someone has to physically survey that mile and make a guess at where the past accidents were and what the hazards were that contributed. If, instead, the location is reduced to within a few meters from the GPS tracking system in the officer’s car, engineers can pinpoint the exact place where work is needed.
Saving money, saving lives, that’s what GPS ROI is really all about. Think you can’t afford it? Think again, it’s not what it costs, it’s what you save that really counts.