They say you can't put a price on a person's life, however if that price is lifted from the options brochure of a Mercedes Sprinter its fare to say it'll set you back.

Having gone along to the company's '2007 Van Experience' I was confronted with a Sprinter 309CDI medium wheelbase high-roof van with complete options list - this includes such additions as thorax and window airbags, Xenon headlights with cornering function and tyre pressure monitors.

Now consider the above Sprinter in standard guise costs £20,580 and then compare that to the 'Safety Van' version on display which comes in at £34,067 - that works out at £13,487 difference, equivalent to two years wages.

However also consider that the standard Sprinter, and smaller Vito for that matter, gets adaptive electronic stability program, ABS, acceleration skid control, brake-assist, electronic brake-force distribution, driver's airbag and seatbelt tensioners with belt force limiters as standard - a level of safety that pretty much exceeds all its rivals.

Now add a wet test track and accelerate accordingly - to find out the result read 12 July issue of Commercial Motor.