Road accidents are a major cause of deaths and injuries and represent a serious health problem all over the world. Latest studies have estimated that nearly 1 million deaths and 15 million injuries occur on roads each year. Over 75 percent of the road accident casualties occur in developing and emerging countries which account for 32 percent of the total motor vehicle fleet. Accident rates in developing countries are often 10 to 70 times higher than in developed countries. The paper introduces some aspects of the road safety problem in developing countries highlighting the key issues and priority needs for achieving greater road safety. The striking accident problem characteristics and road environmental deficiencies attributable to such accidents are discussed by demonstrating how safety improvements could be achieved resulting from wider application of road and traffic engineering countermeasures. The paper particularly highlights the potential and systematic implementation of road safety audit- a new tool for accident prevention for developing countries. (a)
Abstract