UN Chronicle | World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention

World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention
Reported by Erika Reinhardt

Article

Injuries from road crashes kill 1.2 million people every year and injure or disable as many as 50 million more. The World report on road traffic injury prevention, launched on World Health Day by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, presents knowledge of the global road traffic injury problem and offers scientifically based evidence and solutions. It stresses that unsafe road traffic systems are seriously harming public health and development, and that the level of injury is unacceptable and largely avoidable.

The report aims to create greater awareness, commitment and informed decision-making at the levels of government, industry, international agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), so that scientifically-proven strategies can be implemented. It also aims to change the perception that road traffic injury is the price to be paid for achieving mobility and economic development, and emphasizes prevention through action at all levels of the road traffic system. Another goal is to help strengthen institutions and create effective partnerships between different sectors and levels of government, as well as between Governments and NGOs, to deliver safer road traffic systems.

According to the report:

It is projected that between 2000 and 2020, road traffic deaths will decline by about 30 per cent in high-income countries, but will increase substantially in low- and middle-income countries. Without appropriate action, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease and injury by 2020;

Road traffic accidents are crashes that are amenable to rational analysis and remedial action;

Data on the incidence and types of crashes, as well as a detailed understanding of the circumstances that lead to them, are required to guide safety policy;

Road traffic injuries are a major public health issue;

Studies show that motor vehicle crashes have a disproportionate impact on the poor;

There could be substantial benefits if greater attention in designing the transport system were given to the tolerance of the human body to injury;

The priority in developing countries, and the most practical course of action for low- and middle-income countries, should be the import and adaptation of proven and promising road safety methods and technology from developed nations, and a pooling of information as to their effectiveness among other low-income countries;

The experience of some countries indicates that effective strategies for reducing traffic injury have a greater chance of being applied if there is a separate government agency with the power and budget to plan and implement its programme;

Informed and committed politicians are essential to achieving government commitment to road safety;

Industry is involved by designing and selling vehicles and other products; and

NGOs promote road safety by publicizing the problem, identifying effective solutions, challenging ineffective policies and forming coalitions to lobby.

Making a road traffic system less hazardous requires understanding the system as a whole and the interaction between its elements, as well as identifying where there is potential for intervention. It recognizes that the human body is highly vulnerable to injury and people make mistakes and that a safe system accommodates and compensates for human vulnerability and error.

On 7 April 2004, the United Nations Postal Administration issued a set of commemorative stamps on the theme "Road Safety".
© WHO photo/P. Virot

Road traffic injuries are a huge public health and development problem that cost low- and middle-income countries more than the total development aid they receive. Without appropriate action, these injuries will rise dramatically by the year 2020, particularly in rapidly-motorizing countries. Health facilities and their often meagre budgets are greatly overstretched in dealing with survivors of road traffic crashes. Many countries have no injury surveillance systems that generate reliable data on crashes and injuries, which is an important step towards improving road safety.

Safety is a shared responsibility and reducing the risk in the world's road traffic systems requires commitment and informed decision-making by Governments, the industry, NGOs and international agencies, and participation by road engineers, motor vehicle designers, law enforcement officers, health professionals and community groups. The World Report concludes that while there are many interventions that can save lives and limbs, political will and commitment are essential, and without them, little can be achieved. The time to act is now.

WHO Invited as Coordinator on Road Safety Issues

For the first time in history, on 14 April 2004, the UN General Assembly held a plenary session devoted to road safety and invited WHO, in close cooperation with the UN regional commissions, to act as coordinator on road safety issues within the United Nations system. Governments and UN agencies discussed how to implement the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention. The Assembly recognized that developing countries and those with economies in transition had limited capacity to address road safety and underlined the need by developing countries for international support. Stressing the importance of learning from best practices around the world, participants shared their national experiences in promoting road safety and elaborated on possible means of achieving greater coherence of international efforts, including introduction of unified norms and standards, and provision of technical support to countries in need.

World Health Day 2004, organized by WHO and dedicated to the theme of road safety, was observed on 7 April with the slogan, "Road Safety is No Accident". Tens of thousands of people participated in events hosted by hundreds of organizations around the world to help raise awareness about road traffic injuries, their grave consequences and enormous costs to society, and the fact that they can be prevented. "The key to successful prevention lies in the commitment of all relevant sectors, pubic and private—health, transport, education, finance, police, legislators, manufacturers, foundations and the media—to make road safety happen", said Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his World Health Day message.

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