WHO: Road mishaps leading cause of death among young

MANILA, Philippines — Road mishaps are now the leading cause of death among the young, with 1.35 million people dying on the roads each year, while 90 percent of the total number of traffic deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, latest statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed.

“What’s killing our young children and adults is road traffic crashes,” Etienne Krug, director of the WHO department that deals with violence and injury prevention, said.

The 2018 Global Status on Road Safety revealed that increases in average speed, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and inadequate post-crash care are among various factors making traffic accidents the number one killer of persons aged five to 29.

“It’s important to notice this is a real issue of inequalities,” Krug said, citing that only one percent of vehicles in the world is in poorer countries, and yet 13 percent of all vehicle-related deaths occur there.

High-income nations account for 40 percent of the world’s cars, but only seven percent of total traffic fatalities.

Dramatic increases in fatalities for many low- and middle-income countries are partly reflective of their rapid development, associated with “new roads, new cars, new drivers,” according to Krug.

While no low-income country has demonstrated a reduction in overall deaths compared with previous data from 2015, 48 middle- and high-income countries in Europe, the Americas and Western Pacific have reported road traffic death declines, which is largely attributed to improved legislation around speed limits, intoxicated driving and seatbelt safety, among others.

The tried and true method of mitigating the situation via policy changes has worked for richer nations, but poorer countries are not keeping up when it comes to positive changes.

For WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, these deaths are “an unacceptable price to pay for mobility.” He called inaction “inexcusable.”

“This is a problem with proven solutions. This report is a call for governments and partners to take much greater action to implement these measures,” he said.

WHO has contributed to the reduction of road tragedies through its collaboration with the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety, which prioritizes high-risk countries in intervention through building sustainable transportation alternatives, safer roads, monitoring vehicle standards and policy strengthening.

In 2017, the health organization released evidence-based measures to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries, and Save LIVES, a road safety technical package that recommends strategies to address risk factors and guides member states in reaching the target of halving the global road injuries and deaths by 2020.

Twenty-two countries have improved their legislation since 2015, and several have taken measures to improve trauma care services and infrastructure, signaling moves toward progress.