Global Road Safety Crisis - U.N August 2007

By: Drivers.com staff

Date: Wednesday, 31. October 2007

Report: August 24, 2007

Hurricanes, wars, and diseases of various kinds notwithstanding, road traffic crashes are still near the top as a cause of human injuries and deaths - almost 1.2 million killed and millions injured.

Bad as they look, these figures are not the full picture. The true cost includes: the financial strain on families; lost productivity; and the burden on national economies.

The latter, says the U.N. report, can particularly be a threat to developing economies as they try to find their footing in a competitive economic world. Most of the deaths and injuries occur in the urban areas of developing countries.

The report notes that trends in a number of countries, particularly low and middle income ones, indicate that the problem will get worse unless there are world-wide efforts to change things.

With this goal in mind, the U.N. held its first ever Global Road Safety Week from April 23 - 29, 2007. Hundreds of national and regional events were held worldwide.

The World Bank�s Global Road Safety Facility was set up in 2006 to support global, regional and country efforts to improve road safety