Opinion ID: 446520
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Value of Delay and Inconvenience

Text: 92 Petitioners challenge the range of $26-$50 per damage-producing accident assigned by NHTSA as the value of delay and inconvenience. In both the PRIA and the 1979 Final Assessment, the agency had used a flat figure of $26 calculated directly from estimates of the average hourly wage in the private sector, the number of occupants in the average car, the average amount of time lost on the scene of the accident and in obtaining estimates for repairs, and the cost of being without the car while it is being repaired. FRIA at III-39 to -41. (In 1979, State Farm commented that this analysis reflects a reasonable effort ... to correctly account for the variety of time and cost savings due to the impact of [the] 5 mph bumper standard. Comments of State Farm, Docket No. 73-19-N.25-098 at 5 (Apr. 30, 1979), J.A. 2063 (quoted in FRIA at III-39).) It was precisely in response to comments suggesting that some of these estimates were low that the agency decided to use a range of $26-$50 instead of a flat $26 figure. FRIA at III-41. 93 Petitioners claim that NHTSA arbitrarily rejected the only reliable evidence in the record--the survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety--[which] showed that consumers place a value on such losses at $100 to $200 or more. Brief for Insurance Company Petitioners at 37 (footnote omitted). The agency rejected this survey because it concluded that many of the questions were biased or could only be answered by people with specialized knowledge--see 47 Fed.Reg. 21,835; FRIA at III-36 to -38--and because the Cost Savings Act does not contemplate accepting raw statements of preference of this type in calculating the costs and benefits of bumper systems, 47 Fed.Reg. 56,642. NHTSA rejected a second survey submitted by IIHS for similar reasons. Id. We readily affirm the agency in this regard. 94