Just launched: Global status report on road safety 2013
The World Health Organization today launched the ‘Global status report on road safety 2013’. This report, the second in a series, presents information from 182 countries, accounting for almost 99% of the world’s population, and will serve as the baseline for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.
The report analyzes to what extent countries are implementing a number of effective road safety measures using a standardized methodology that allows comparisons between countries to be made. The report looks at whether countries have comprehensive road safety laws on all five key risk factors: drinking and driving, speeding, and failing to use motorcycle helmets, seat-belts, and child restraints. In addition, it highlights the importance of issues such as vehicle safety standards, road infrastructure inspections, policies on walking and cycling, and aspects of pre-hospital care systems. It also indicates if countries have a national strategy which sets measurable targets to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads.
The report shows:
- In 2010, there were 1.24 million deaths worldwide from road traffic crashes, roughly the same number as in 2007.
- Only 28 countries, covering 7% of the world’s population, have comprehensive road safety laws on all five key risk factors (listed above).
- While 88 Member States were able to reduce the number of road traffic fatalities, that number increased in 87 countries.
- 59% of those who are killed in road traffic crashes are between the ages of 15 and 44 years, and 77% are male.
- Pedestrians and cyclists constitute 27% of all road deaths. In some countries this figure is higher than 75%.
There are positive signs. We can see that where risk factors are addressed effectively, lives are saved; yet there is still much work to be done to achieve the target of the Decade of Action for Road Safety: to prevent five million road crash deaths by 2020.
Through partnership, we can help to achieve this goal, and each of us, as road users, must play our part.
Join the Global Road Safety Partnership.
Link to the ‘Global status report on road safety 2013‘.
