Road safety
Road safety - a major concern
Policemen inspect a car accident site
(REUTERS/Max Rossi/courtesy www.alertnet.org) |
Road accidents kill more than 1.2 million people and seriously injure or disable as many as 50 million worldwide every year – and this situation is getting worse.
The "World report on road traffic injury prevention" suggests that, if significant steps are not taken, the crash death rate in low- and middle-income countries - which already experience more than 85 per cent of road deaths and injuries - will increase by 80 per cent by 2020.
Many victims are the primary provider of household income and, when injured or killed, their families are left without economic support. In addition, those who survive often need immediate hospital care and many require long-term support.
These injuries impose substantial economic burdens on developing nations. Often the costs exceed the total development assistance these countries receive each year. As a result, there is a direct link between road safety improvement and poverty reduction.
Worldwide toll of road accidents:
- 1.2 million people worldwide are estimated to be killed each year on the roads – that’s around 3,000 deaths daily, 500 of them children
- 50 million people worldwide are believed to be injured in road crashes each year, 15 million seriously
- Low- and middle-income countries account for more than 85 per cent of global deaths from road traffic crashes;
- The global financial cost of road traffic injuries is 518 billion USD each year;
- The cost to low- and middle-income countries is 65 billion USD, more than all development aid income
- For males aged 15-44, road traffic injuries rank second (behind HIV/AIDS) as the leading cause of premature death and ill health worldwide
- By 2020, unless action is taken, road traffic injuries are predicted to rise overall by about 80 per cent in low- and middle-income countries.
Source: The "World report on road traffic injury prevention" jointly published in 2004 by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO)
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