This year, 1.2 million people will die as the result of road-traffic accidents — accounting for 2% of deaths worldwide — and 50 million will be injured or disabled. As pointed out in a report by the Commission for Global Road Safety, released on June 8, the vast majority of this carnage (85%) will occur on the increasingly crowded streets, roads, and highways of the developing world. And, as these nations develop, there will be more traffic and more deaths. Indeed, without a major effort to reduce road-traffic accidents, traffic-related fatalities are expected to rise by 60% worldwide between 2000 and 2020. The increase will be driven by an 80% rise in the deaths in low and middle-income countries. Traffic deaths in high-income countries are actually projected to fall by 30%. (Author/publisher)
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