Nearly sixty percent of the world’s population lives in low and middle income countries (LMIC) and these countries include 62 of the largest 100 cities in the world. The urban growth rates in Asia, Africa and Latin America are higher than those in Europe and North America and so are the vehicle growth rates (World Health Organization, 1998). Data were collected for road traffic fatality rates for 56 cities to understand issues concerning road safety and sustainable transport issues. The results show that pedestrian fatality risk in LMIC is generally much higher than high-income countries. If risk for pedestrians is high, it will discourage walking and consequently use of public transport as the access trips are as pedestrians. This in turn will make it difficult to have cleaner air. Therefore, pedestrian safety becomes a pre condition for planning sustainable transport systems. (Author/publisher)
Abstract