World-wide, there are over 500,000 road accident fatalities per year, and 3m to 4m are crippled each year. About 70% of the fatalities occur in developing countries, where the situation is still worsening rapidly. This article presents some of the relevant statistics, and discusses some approaches to accident prevention. It includes charts, which show some important findings. Fatality rates per road vehicle can be 20-30 times higher in developing countries than in industrialised countries like the UK. Vehicle fleets in developing countries are increasing rapidly, and could double or even treble within five to eight years. In many developing countries, vulnerable road users are often the largest proportion of fatalities. Because of under-reporting of accidents and gaps in official statistics, road safety in these countries may be even worse than the 'official' statistics show. There is much scope for increasing road safety there by incorporating known procedures, controls, and improvements in many sectors related to road safety. Ross Silcock has been working on such issues for many years in the developing world. The article describes some of its work there, including Road Safety Action plans and the `TRL Red Book' Towards Safer Roads, developed jointly with the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).
Abstract