Experts, activists call for safer roads

Experts and advocates on traffic safety who participated in World Health Day celebrations at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) detailed the enormous public health costs of traffic crashes around the world and called for new and sustained efforts to reduce them.

Participants in the April 7 event heard firsthand accounts of the tragic consequences of traffic crashes. Headlining a panel of speakers was Heather Mills-McCartney, an anti-landmine activist and wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney. Mills told the story of how she lost part of her left leg when she was struck by a motorcycle just over a decade ago.

Among other participants was Kirk Van Tine, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, who described the impressive progress that has been made in reducing deaths from traffic crashes in the United States as a result of seat belt campaigns.

Claude Allen, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and David de Ferranti, vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Bank, announced they were joining PAHO and the U.S. Department of Transportation in a campaign to reduce the toll of death and injury due to traffic crashes in the Americas. The four organizations signed an agreement to work together toward that goal. Representatives of the American Automobile Association, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Safe Kids also pledged to join the effort.

The event also included the release of the new World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), which contains a series of recommendations to cut deaths and injuries from traffic crashes in developing countries, where their toll is highest and fastest growing.

The report calls for the development of national plans of action, with the participation of many sectors and disciplines, including public health professionals, health care providers, road and motor vehicle engineers, law enforcement officials and educators.

The report notes that many measures have been proven successful in preventing crashes and minimizing injuries, including improvements in the design of vehicles and roads as well as legislation, enforcement and awareness campaigns about the use of seat belts, helmets and child restraints and about the dangers of speeding and drunk driving.

Some 1.2 million people die every year as a result of traffic crashes, according to the report, and as many as 50 million more are injured or disabled. If current trends continue, the number of people killed and injured on the world's roads will rise by nearly 60 percent between 2000 and 2020. Most injuries will occur in developing countries, where the number of people using motorized transport is increasing fastest. In developing countries, cyclists, motorcyclists, public transportation users and pedestrians are especially vulnerable to road traffic injuries.

The Newsletter of the Pan American Health Organization

This article is reproduced under an agreement with the Pan American Health Organization.