An estimated 1.2 million road users are killed by road traffic injuries each year throughout the world and many millions more are injured or disabled (Peden et al. 2004). Even though road traffic injuries were the 9th leading cause of death and disability in the world in 1990, if unchecked they are predicted to increase and become the 3rd leading cause in 2020. In the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, road traffic injuries are a major cause of premature mortality, disability and economic loss to society. Each year, 127 000 people are killed due to road traffic injuries in the 53 countries in the European Region (Racioppi 2004, Sethi, et al., 2006a). The non-fatal consequences are also severe with millions of people requiring medical attention, and a large proportion of them become permanently disabled. The loss to national productivity is an economic threat, and results in the loss of about 2% of gross domestic product (GDP). For the European Region, this is translated into hundreds of billions of euros. Apart from costs due to lost production and property damage, health care costs for the treatment and rehabilitation of road traffic injured victims should also be taken into account. The WHO World report on road traffic injury prevention defines a road traffic injury as: “fatal or non-fatal injuries incurred as a result of a road traffic crash. A road traffic crash is defined as a collision or incident that may or may not lead to injury, occurring on a public road and involving at least one moving vehicle” (Peden et al., 2004). For the purposes of this policy briefing a vulnerable road user will be defined as road user who is present in a crash involving vehicles which do not have a protective shell (OECD 1998, ETSC 2005). This will primarily include pedestrians, cyclists and motorized two-wheelers that comprise the main categories. It is recognized that there are additional minor categories such as skate boarders and skaters, but these categories will not be included in the context of the present briefing. Other road users may also be injured on the roads, such as pedestrians falling, but these do not constitute road traffic injuries. The purpose of this policy briefing is to highlight the burden of road traffic injuries in vulnerable road users and to make policy proposals. (Author/publisher)
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