Road traffic injuries have become a major public health and social safety problem in many countries. Each year, approximately 1.2 million people die in traffic accidents and as many as 50 million people are injured worldwide. The global annual burden of economic costs is estimated at around US$518 billion. Turkey has also suffered from road traffic accidents (RTAs) due to inappropriate transportation plans and policies. Annually, around 5000 fatalities and 135 000 injuries occur on Turkish roads, and property loss is about $250—300 million. Fatality and injury rates resulting from traffic accidents in Turkey are two to five times higher than those in some European countries. The main reason behind this is that freight and passenger traffic are mostly concentrated on the highway transportation network. More specially, 95% of freight and passengers are transported on highways, while only 4% of them by rail and the remaining demand are equally shared by maritime services and airlines. (Author/publisher)
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