There's the human toll: an average of 101 lost each year, with a fatality rate far above the national average. But there's also a social cost to accidents on the island's roads. That is, the economic damage suffered by the community due to crashes (with fatalities, but also "only" injuries). In Sardinia, in 2025, it amounted to almost half a billion euros: 453.9 million, to be precise.
The "moral" value of a life is inestimable. But if it is lost, there is certainly an economic impact, calculated according to a 2023 ministerial decree (MIT) , based on a model developed with ISTAT (scientific coordination), ACI (Automobile Club of Italy), the Ministry of Health , and the National Institute of Health.
The main components are: loss of productive capacity (the victim's lost future income, whether due to death or permanent or temporary disability), human costs and non-pecuniary damages (moral damage, biological damage, suffering of the victim and family members (also estimated with reference to judicial settlement tables), healthcare costs (emergency rooms, hospitalizations, rehabilitation (data obtained from hospital discharge forms and the Ministry of Health), material damage (such as to vehicles and infrastructure), and administrative and general costs (law enforcement, justice, claims management).
The cost nationwide is estimated at €18 billion per year. And while the overall number of fatal accidents in Italy has been steadily decreasing, in Sardinia the number of fatalities shows no sign of decreasing.
In the first ten months of 2026, approximately 70 people died on the island's roads (the figure has not yet been made official by public authorities). This figure is in line with the trend of the last fifteen years. Here's the trend: in 2010 there were 106, in 2011 100, in 2012 95, in 2013 123, in 2014 98, in 2015 110, in 2016 106, in 2017 90, in 2018 105, in 2019 71, in 2020 95, in 2021 91, in 2022 100, in 2023 110, in 2024 113 (a record year), and in 2025 100.
Last year's economic toll was heavy. In Sardinia, there were 3,624 road accidents resulting in personal injuries: 100 deaths, 5,037 injuries (overall figures; official sources do not provide a regional breakdown between serious and minor injuries). According to MIT's parameters, the social cost is approximately €453.9 million. For society, one victim costs €1,812,989, and one injury (average between serious and minor injuries) €45,210. In addition, there is a fixed cost of approximately €12,000 per accident.