Methodology of Environmental Damage Assessment Caused by Road Accidents

The current status of assessing the amount of environmental damage is mainly focused on the long-term consequences of negative factors, such as traffic and industry emissions. Significant damage may be caused even due to short-term effects, such as an accident during transportation of hazardous substances, where there is a loss caused either by the vehicle failure, or road accident. Damage which is subsequently solved, in most cases reflects only the costs associated with the removal and rehabilitation of the affected area. It is however important to note that since the damage occurrence until the return of the environment to its original state, if at all possible, there are many changes bearing other related costs associated with their replacement. The paper analyses the current status of assessing the amount of environmental damage and suggests appropriate methods for the unification process in the framework of expert activities.