The present road safety situation is reviewed for Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the developing countries. Every year, there are about 500,000 road accident fatalities worldwide. Although increasing traffic would lead to an increase in fatalities and injuries, in the absence of effective road safety management, the problem of road accidents is not insoluble. Several effective recent safety initiatives are reviewed, in the areas of: drinking and driving, speed, assistance to road accident victims, seat belts, and vehicle safety. Better roads improve road safety. Promising new developments include: road safety targets, safety auditing, sustainable safe traffic, improved police enforcement, and the application of telematics. Important road safety policies include: raising public awareness, marketing road safety measures, organising policy, and financing accident prevention. No one approach can solve all road safety problems, and it is necessary to combine the whole range of different measures in a better way, based on synergy and permanent implementation. It is important to set political priorities and exchange know-how about effective measures worldwide, for example by meta-analyses and `best practice' overviews. Seven conclusions and recommendations are presented. An annex tabulates fatality rates by country.
Abstract