Every year, about 1.2 million people die in traffic accidents. One third of these victims are young people under the age of 25. Why are young people so vulnerable in traffic and what can be done to save their lives?
 | Picture Gallery (Click on the image to start)Effective Approaches to Improve Road Safety (Picture: Reuters) |
Prasad Ganesh was on his way home after buying his brother-in-law a New year greeting card when he was thrown off his bicycle by a speeding truck on a busy road in Hyderabad, India. The young high school student didn’t stand a chance.
Prasad’s grieving family, whose story is told in the WHO report "Faces behind the figures: voices of road traffic crash victims and their families", is not alone: Every hour, forty people under the age of 25 die in road accidents around the globe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is the second leading cause of death for 5 to 29-year olds. For 15 to 19-year olds, it is the leading cause of death.
The WHO Mortality Database states that over 90 percent of all fatal road accidents happen in low- or middle-income countries where road planning often doesn’t give enough thought to pedestrians and cyclists. They have to share transport space with cars, trucks, and buses, which increases the likelihood of being involved in a collision.
When an accident happens, the non-motorized road user always loses. As a consequence, most of the young people killed in traffic accidents are vulnerable road users―pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
Too Small to See and Be Seen
Children in particular do not have the skills or the knowledge to cope with the chaos on the roads. They are not as attentive as adults, but energetic and impulsive, which may lead them to suddenly run into the road to, for example, chase a ball.
 | Picture Gallery (Click on the image to start)Transport Safety |
What also plays a big role is that children are not tall enough to oversee the surrounding traffic and other road users can miss them easily because they are small.
When it comes to teenage and young adult drivers, very different factors increase their risk of being involved in an accident: Besides higher risk behaviour, inexperience, lack of seat belt or helmet use, drink-driving, and speeding increase the likelihood of traffic collisions among young drivers.
Road Safety is No Accident
To improve road safety for children requires a combination of different measures and actions. As children’s behaviour in traffic is shaped at an early age, it is effective to include road safety education in the school curriculum, for example by providing teachers with resources to teach children in primary school about the dangers of traffic.
To produce the best road safety results, the Global Road Safety Partnership advises combining different approaches, such as driver training and providing a safe environment and road infrastructure.
Providing safe crossing places, bike and footpaths, and establishing traffic calming techniques like speed-humps or roundabouts are several of many possibilities. Additional measures include strict enforcement of road safety rules and supporting safe driver behaviour: If everyone wore seat belts, for example, fatal accidents could be reduced by 50 percent.
Keep Your Head, Wear a Helmet
The single most effective way to prevent head injuries and fatalities from bicycle and motorcycle crashes is to wear a helmet. According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helmets reduce the risk of death in a motorcycle crash by about 30 percent and the risk of fatal head injuries by 40 percent.
In India, the country with the highest number of fatal accidents, two-wheelers are an important means of transportation. Thousands of young people die or suffer injuries in road collisions annually which could have been prevented by wearing a helmet.
Several organizations have subsequently launched campaigns to promote helmet use in India and the introduction of mandatory helmet use in all Indian states, a measure that commonly increases the rate of helmet use to 90 to 100 percent.
Neither this initiative nor any other road safety measure will bring Prasad back to life, or any other child that died in a road crash. But unless drastic measures are taken to counter the upward trend, the number of deaths from road crashes will continue to rise in the coming years.
editor: Miki Yokoyama
publishing date: February 24, 2009
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