Finance

Finance

World Bank: â€œConfronting â€˜Death on Wheelsâ€™

16 March 2010 09:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. Road traffic injuries already rank among the top 10 causes of death in countries of Europe and Central Asia, as documented in a recent World Bank report â€œConfronting â€˜Death on Wheelsâ€™: Making Roads Safe in Europe and Central Asiaâ€. Close to 80,000 people died in 2007 as a result of road traffic injuries; about double the amount of Western Europe. Countries such as Kazakhstan, Russia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, have mortality rates above 20 per 100,000 people as compared to less than 5 per 100,000 in several European Union countries. High rates (two or three times higher than in Western Europe) are also observed in Montenegro, Latvia, Georgia, Belarus, Slovakia, Poland, Armenia, Turkey, and Bulgaria. And, for every death, many more people are hospitalized or have injuries that require medical attention (nearing 820,000 people in 2007 alone).

A raging but often neglected â€˜silent epidemicâ€™ is afflicting the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, the Baltics, Central Europe, and Turkey. Road traffic injuries and fatalities happen to individuals, but the collective impact on society is often unseen, unspoken, and neglected. Yet, in these countries road traffic fatalities reached epidemic proportions, particularly over the last decade, and people are two to three times more likely to die from road traffic injuries than people in Western Europe.

Road fatalities and disability undermine growth of the human capital that is essential for sustainable long-term economic and social well being. The â€˜silent epidemicâ€™ has particularly negative effects on the 15- 44 aged population â€“ the young and working age people in the prime of their lives. Road traffic injuries are already the leading cause of death among children, adolescents, and young adults aged 5-29 years, and the third leading cause of death among those aged 30-44 years. About 80 percent of road traffic death victims are males. â€˜Distracted drivingâ€™ due to the growing use of cell phones and texting while driving increasingly results in road traffic crashes, affecting young drivers in particular.

The economic cost of road deaths and injuries in countries of Europe and Central Asia is estimated to exceed 1.5 percent of GDP per year. The highest costs per year are in Russia (US$ 34 billion), Turkey (US$ 14 billion), Poland (US$ 10 billion), and Ukraine (US $5 billion).

The impact of road traffic injuries among pedestrians is also severe since most safety measures historically have focused on protecting vehicle occupants rather than pedestrians. Children and the elderly pedestrians are the most vulnerable.

Contributing to the poor road traffic safety situation in the countries of Europe and Central Asia are weak road safety management systems, deteriorated roads, exponential growth in the number of vehicles (usually secondhand) over the last decade, poor driver behavior, and lack of enforcement of road safety laws and regulations. Excessive alcohol consumption â€“ the â€˜drunk drivingâ€™ syndrome â€“ is also a major contributing factor.