Report suggests road accidents kill more young people than illness

Around 1.35 million people worldwide lose their lives in road accidents every year according to a new report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO Global status report on road safety 2018 suggests road accidents have now emerged as the top killer of children and young people aged 5-29 years, overtaking illness.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “These deaths are an unacceptable price to pay for mobility.

“There is no excuse for inaction. 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.”

The biggest victims of road accidents are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, especially those residing in developing nations.

The report urges governments to put more focus on implementing proven measures to address speed and drinking and driving, while enforcing regulation to use seat-belts, motorcycle helmets.

Governments should also provide safer infrastructure such as dedicated lanes for cyclists and motorcyclists; improve vehicle standards and enhance post-crash care.

The report highlights that these measures have helped to reduce the road traffic deaths in 48 middle and high-income countries.

Low-income countries did not see a decline in overall deaths as these methods were not implemented as widely.

The report states that the risk of a road traffic death remains three times higher in low-income countries than high-income countries.

Road traffic deaths are highest in Africa (26.6 per 100,000 people) and lowest in Europe (9.3 per 100,000 population).