COST COUNTING: A STUDY ON DETERMINATION AND PREVENTION OF TRAFFIC CRIMES

The subject of the research is the study of socio-economic losses from road traffic crimes on the basis of statistical data on mortality and injuries on the roads of the EU and Ukraine in order to assess the scale of negative consequences caused by road traffic accidents, identify their causes and outline the prospects for prevention. Methodology. The research methodology includes theoretical and empirical methods: dialectical, analytical, synthetic, statistical and sociological. The theoretical basis of the article is the specialised literature on law, economics and sociology. The empirical basis of the study was the materials of generalisation of the results of a survey of various categories of respondents in the total number of 8,305 people on the problem of road safety on Ukrainian roads. The purpose of the article is to determine the cost of road traffic crimes for the EU and Ukraine, and then to consider the determinants of this phenomenon and the possibilities of its prevention. Results. It is noted that the main causes of road accidents in Ukraine are still subjective determinants, namely the unsatisfactory level of legal culture and legal awareness of road users. A separate manifestation of this phenomenon is aggressive driving, which is expressed primarily in a more "material" way by driving faster than the legal speed limit, fast and frequent overtaking on the road, including without keeping a safe distance, driving in the opposite lane or running red lights, ignoring traffic signs – rather than obscene gestures, shouting, verbal abuse or honking at other road users or driving. Conclusion. The study of the socio-economic consequences of road accidents in the European Union and Ukraine has demonstrated that the lack of a universal methodology for assessing such consequences (based on the material category – the price of road accidents) results in significant discrepancies in the scope and "cost" of these accidents across different countries. International organisations have made efforts to "unify" such losses on the basis of specific criteria, with some positive outcomes. Therefore, despite the discrepancy in the internal evaluation of the consequences by states, their external assessment is reflected in the definition of such losses as a percentage of the gross domestic product, which underscores the direct correlation between the state's economic stability and road safety. The most commonly used criteria for road crash costs are the determination of material damage, which is manifested in damage to road infrastructure and personal property; the intangible value of the lost quality of life and lost years of life; costs of inpatient and outpatient treatment; costs of ambulance service and transportation of the injured; police and fire services; insurance company payments; legal costs; and so forth. The survey revealed that in order to prevent road accidents and traffic crimes, it is necessary to implement the following measures: increase liability for traffic offenders; criminalise more traffic offences; increase fines for traffic offenders; and adhere to the principle of inevitability of punishment.