Three hours and four deaths – years of life lost as a measure of the burden of motorcyclist fatalities

Abstract

On September 6, 2026, four motorcyclists aged 17, 30, 31, and 46 years died in three traffic crashes in Serbia within a three-hour period. Using 75 years as the upper reference age, these deaths represented 176 potential years of life lost. Assuming a potential working life from 18 to 65 years, they also represented 135 potential working years lost. Valued illustratively at the average monthly gross salary for June 2026, the undiscounted value of lost future gross earnings was approximately RSD 269 million (approximately EUR 2.3 million). This excludes healthcare, emergency response, police and judicial costs, property damage, disability, unpaid work, and intangible family losses. Death counts alone therefore understate the public health and societal burden. Reporting potential years of life lost alongside conventional mortality indicators could support more proportionate prevention policies for motorcyclists and moped users.

Keywords: premature mortality; wounds and injuries; economic burden; accident prevention