A vast majority of the world’s countries — 85 percent — lack adequate laws to address the growing problem of traffic deaths and injuries, said the WHO’s first global report on road safety, released on Monday.
Traffic injuries are the ninth leading cause of death worldwide, and public health experts say that without intervention they will rise to fifth within 20 years, surpassing AIDS and tuberculosis.
“In many countries, the laws needed to protect people are either not there or are too limited in scope,” said Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍), the health organization’s director general, as she announced the findings in New York. “Even when the legislation is adequate, the problem we have is enforcement.”
The report was financed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped announce the findings.
The 287-page report is based on data from survey last year of 178 countries, representing 98 percent of the world’s population. It builds on a 2004 report that estimated that 1.27 million people die and that another 20 million to 50 million are injured annually in traffic accidents.
The new survey said pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycle riders make up almost half of the deaths.
Creating and enforcing laws requiring seatbelts and helmets as well as punishing drunken driving is a proven, cost-effective injury prevention strategy, said Kelly Henning, director of global health programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. The foundation has invested in pilot road-safety programs in Mexico and Vietnam.
The WHO said that about 90 percent of traffic injuries occur in developing countries and the majority of victims are young, suggesting large economic losses for poor countries.
In addition to causing tremendous personal suffering, traffic deaths and injuries can impoverish families and burden already strained health systems, said Etienne Krug, director of injury the WHO’s violence prevention programs.
“Very few people realize that this is one of the leading causes of death in the world, and the leading cause of death for young people,” Krug said.
The report compiles new data on registered vehicles, traffic laws, enforcement, accidents, injuries and deaths, but data remains incomplete for most of the developing world, Krug said.
“However, we know from anecdotal evidence that in some hospitals and surgical wards, almost half of the surgery beds are occupied by victims of road traffic crashes,” Krug said.
Historically, traffic deaths have increased with a nation’s economic growth, but poorer countries can incorporate safety strategies into transportation and infrastructure plans now to avoid this pattern, said Tony Bliss, lead road safety specialist at the World Bank.
“If we could successfully, over the next 10 or 15 years, turn this around, it would be one of the great 21st-century public health achievements,” Bliss said.
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