Accelerate safety measures to reduce road traffic deaths: WHO

WHO urges WHO South-East Asia Region to prioritize road safety for vulnerable users to reduce traffic deaths.

The World Health Organization on Monday (September 2, 2024) called on countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region to accelerate measures to reduce road traffic deaths, a leading cause of mortality among young people aged 15-29.

“Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists and two or three-wheelers constitute 66% of all reported road traffic deaths in our region,” said Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, in her address at the 15th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Safety 2024) which began at New Delhi today.

She emphasised that the roads and their networks need to be designed prioritising those most at risk – children and adolescents, people with disabilities, pedestrians and other vulnerable groups.

The WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for 330,223 of the 1.19 million estimated global road traffic deaths in 2021, representing 28% of the global burden, the WHO said in a statement.

With 70% of the global population projected to live in urban areas by 2030, demand for public transport will surge. The WHO South-East Asia Region, amid rapid urbanisation, faces shared challenges – a high prevalence of motorised two and three-wheelers, inadequate traffic injury data, poor pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure, and limited emergency services, it said.

Unlike high-income countries, where road safety measures often focus on car occupants, low and middle-income countries need to prioritise the safety of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and riders of two and three-wheelers who are disproportionately at higher risk.

Strengthening trauma and emergency care systems, enhancing road safety data, strong leadership and promoting collaboration among all stakeholders are essential for improving road safety, the statement said.