WHO: Road traffic accidents cause 1.3 million deaths globaly

Every year the lives of almost 1.3 million people are cut short as a result of a road traffic crash. Between 20 to 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury, according to World Health Organization (WHO) report. Road traffic injuries cause considerable economic losses to victims, their families, and to nations as a whole. These losses arise from the cost of treatment (including rehabilitation and incident investigation) as well as reduced/lost productivity (e.g. in wages) for those killed or disabled by their injuries, and for family members who need to take time off work (or school) to care for the injured. There are few global estimates of the costs of injury, but an estimate carried out in 2000 suggest that the economic cost of road traffic crashes was approximately US$ 518 billion. National estimates have illustrated that road traffic crashes cost countries between 1-3% of their gross national product, while the financial impact on individual families has been shown to result in increased financial borrowing and debt, and even a decline in food consumption. Road traffic injuries have been neglected from the global health agenda for many years, despite being predictable and largely preventable. Evidence from many countries shows that dramatic successes in preventing road traffic crashes can be achieved through concerted efforts that involve, but are not limited to, the health sector. More than 90% of deaths that result from road traffic injuries occur in low- and middle-income countries. Road traffic injury death rates are highest in the low- and middle-income countries of the African and Middle Eastern regions. Even within high-income countries, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to be involved in a road traffic crashes than their more affluent counterparts. Children and young people under the age of 25 years account for over 30% of those killed and injured in road traffic crashes. Road traffic fatality rates are higher in younger age groups. From a young age, males are more likely to be involved in road traffic crashes than females. Among young drivers, young males under the age of 25 years are almost 3 times as likely to be killed in a car crash as young females. WHO provides tools for evaluating the global impact of the Decade of Action for Road Safety through the development of Global status reports on road safety. The first Global status report on road safety, published in 2009, provided the first comprehensive assessment of the road safety situation globally, while the second report which will serve as a baseline for the Decade of Action for Road Safety will be released this year. WHO also provides guidelines that highlight good practice in road traffic injury prevention, and then supports governments to implement the suggested programmes or policies.