Each year about 500,000 people die in road accidents. Of these nearly 350,000 are in the developing world. Fatality rates are often at least ten times higher in the Third World and it is evident that road deaths are increasing in Africa, Asia and South East Asia whereas they are generally decreasing in industrialised countries. As well as causing a great deal of unnecessary suffering, road accidents cost the Third World an estimated minimum total of 25 billion $US per annum. Until recently road safety has not been given much priority but now there are some promising signs of increased road safety action and research is helping developing countries gain a better understanding of the problem and find practical solutions. This paper describes some of the road accident characteristics identified by the TRRL's research programme overseas and it emphasises the need for safety conscious planning and design of roads. Some common accident features identified were the high proportion of fatalities which were pedestrians (often over 40%), and the high percentages of fatal accidents which involved buses and trucks (up to 50%) and children (up to 28%). The studies also highlighted the diverse nature of the problem and the need for good accident databases, such as the MAAP (Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package) system subsequently developed by the Overseas Unit at TRRL as an aid to planning and research. Although road accidents are usually due to mistakes made by road-users (64 to 94%), it is clear that poor road design and planning will often have contributed to or compounded these errors. Many developing countries have outdated or inappropriate design standards and modern accident prevention and reduction methods have yet to be introduced in spite of their considerable potential. To encourage more effective approaches, the TRRL has published a road safety Guide for planners and engineers in developing countries (see IRRD 843648) and begun a programme of evaluating improvements.
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