Road traffic injuries are a major public health problem globally. More than 1.2 million people are killed each year, and millions more are injured or disabled as a result of road traffic crashes. Most of the road traffic fatalities occur in low- and middle-income countries, although the extent of the problem varies enormously between and within countries. Data on road traffic deaths and injuries are important tools in road safety strategy development. However, the lack of data should not be used as an excuse for inaction or ignoring a country’s road traffic problem. Some country-level data are always available, no matter how rudimentary these may be, and these should be used as a starting point to develop a road safety strategy and implement some interventions we know can save lives. Whichever data are used in a country, health or transport, the situation is clear: the problem of road traffic deaths and injuries is big and getting bigger. Debates about underreporting or the inaccuracy of data will go on. In the meantime, we should busy ourselves with implementing road safety interventions we know work; doing this will save lives. At the same time, we should work toward improving databases.
Abstract