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Death Toll On World's Roads Is Too High, WHO Finds

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Some 1.25 million people die each year as a result of traffic crashes around the world, even though an increasing number of countries in recent years have made live-saving improvements on their roads. But the pace of change is too slow and traffic deaths remain too high.

Those were the main findings of a report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) during a joint-press conference held in Geneva and London.

“Road traffic fatalities take an unacceptable toll – particularly on poor people in poor countries,” Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, said in a statement.

“The risk of dying in a road traffic crash still depends, in great part, on where people live and how they move around,” the report found. “A big gap still separates high-income countries from low- and middle- income ones where 90% of road traffic deaths occur in spite of having just 54% of the world’s vehicles.”

(photo taken in Kenya; courtesy of Bloomberg Philanthropies)

The wealthier countries in Europe had the lowest death rates per capita; Africa had the highest, the group said.

The “Global status report on road safety 2015” is based on the analysis of data collected for 180 countries.

The report noted that more attention is needed to protect pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, a group for whom fatalities in many regions of the world is increasing,

“Improving public transport as well as making walking and cycling safer requires us to refocus our attention on how vehicles and people share the road,” Dr. Etienne Krug, Director of WHO’s Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, said in a statement. “The lack of policies aimed at vulnerable road users is killing people and harming our cities. If we make walking and cycling safer there will be fewer deaths, more physical activity, better air quality, and more pleasant cities.”

The report also stressed the need to improve vehicle safety, noting that “some vehicles sold in 80% of all countries worldwide fail to meet basic safety standards, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where nearly 50% of the 67 million new passenger cars were produced in 2014.”

However, there was some positive news. The number of road traffic deaths is stabilizing, even though globally both motor vehicle production and the population have increased rapidly, according to the report. In the last three years, for example, 79 countries have experienced a decrease in the number of fatalities; 68 countries have seen an increase.

Countries that improved laws and enforcement, and made roads and vehicles safer had the most success in reducing the road traffic deaths, the report said, noting that a greater number of countries are taking action to make their roads safer.

The report was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which since 2007 has committed more than $250 million to help low- and middle- income countries adopt effective road safety measures.

“Thanks to stronger laws and smarter infrastructure, nearly half a billion people in the world are better protected from road crashes than were just a few years ago - and we have the opportunity to do much more, especially when it comes to enforcing laws,” Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term former Mayor of New York, said in a statement.

“Every life lost in a road crash is an avoidable tragedy, and this report can prevent more of them by helping policy-makers focus their efforts where they'll make the biggest difference," he added.

Highlights from the report:

• 105 countries have good seat-belt laws that apply to all occupants;

• 47 countries have good speed laws defining a national urban maximum speed limit of 50 Km/h and empowering local authorities to further reduce speed limits;

• 34 countries have a good drunk–driving law with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit of less than or equal to 0.05 g/dl as well as lower limits of less than or equal to 0.02 g/dl for young and novice drivers;

• 44 countries have helmet laws that apply to all drivers, passengers, roads and engine types; require the helmet to be fastened and refer to a particular helmet standard;

• 53 countries have a child restraint law for occupants of vehicles based on age, height or weight, and apply an age or height restriction on children sitting in the front seat.

“Road safety is an issue that hasn’t gotten anywhere near the attention it deserves – and it really is one of our great opportunities to save lives,” Bloomberg said during a press call from London.

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Many effective interventions to make dangerous roads safer are relatively low cost, like requiring that motorcycle riders wear helmets, building dedicated bicycle lanes and improving street lighting, he said. “Reducing road deaths by 50% would save more than 600,000 lives every year. That would be a huge victory for public health – and it’s within reach.”

Click here and here for more information, and here for detailed one-page profiles of each of the 180 countries included in the report.

To access an interactive “Death on the Roads” data visualization based on the report, click here.