Road safety

According to World Bank statistics, every year the lives of almost 1.24 million people are cut short as a result of road accidents. Between 20 and 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury. The Caribbean is no exception. This region has suffered its fair share of disasters on the road resulting in a number of its citizens losing their lives or becoming disabled at a very young age. Almost every week there is some news that someone was killed on the roadways and despite actions on several fronts, including enacting the relevant legislation and increasing the number of ‘campaigns’, the Caribbean does not seem to be winning the battle in significantly reducing the number of road deaths.
The Second UN Global Road Safety Week, which was observed recently (6-12 May 2013), was dedicated to pedestrian safety. The week’s activities drew attention to the urgent need to better protect pedestrians worldwide, generated action on the measures needed to do so, and contributed to achieving the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 to save 5 million lives.
Walking is the most fundamental form of mobility, yet it is also the most vulnerable to road traffic injury. According to the World Health Organisation’s 2013 ‘Global Status Report on Road Safety’, over one-fifth of all road traffic deaths (270,000 annually) are pedestrians. In some countries, such as Ghana, the proportion of pedestrians among road traffic deaths is as high as 40 percent.
Many risk factors contribute to the high vulnerability of pedestrians, including the speed of vehicles, alcohol, inadequate visibility, lack of pedestrian safety facilities, and inadequate enforcement of traffic laws. This is documented in a recent best practices manual jointly commissioned by the World Health Organisation, the FIA Foundation, the Global Road Safety Partnership, and the World Bank.
Nelson Mandela’s great-granddaughter Zenani was killed in a car crash as she was returning home from a World Cup concert in Soweto in 2010. Her death, two days after her 13th birthday, drew global attention to the high toll in lives and devastating injuries from road traffic crashes globally. Their loss also turned the Mandela family into activists for global road safety.
“On the same day that I lost Zenani, a thousand other families also lost a child on the world’s roads,” her mother, Zoleka Mandela, writes on the website of the Zenani Mandela Campaign.
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.
According to the WHO, 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.
Some believe that 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.
Organisations such as the WB and WHO have argued that while there is no single measure to address all pedestrian risks, many steps can be taken to improve their safety. For example, a 5 percent cut in speed can reduce fatal crashes by 30 percent. Road design, land-use planning, and vehicle design are other important factors.
Further, collecting reliable data is also essential to improving road safety and reducing risks for pedestrians. According to a recent WHO study, data systems in most countries remain poor, with 71 percent of countries relying on police data systems only. Many deaths occur after a crash victim has been transported to a hospital, so data from health systems are also needed to derive a better understanding of the issue.