Actually it’s much worse than that. $277 billion is the economic cost of car accidents. The cost including lost wages and human suffering is estimated at $871 billion per year. [1]

There’s a difference between direct revenue & expenses and second-order effects.

As a second order effect, roads are necessary for something on the order of $10 trillion of economic activity in the US.

It’s a high price to pay to be sure, for the modern world. I look forward to self driving technology significantly reducing that number over the next 10-15 years.

[1] - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/motor-vehicle-crashes-u-...