ROAD SAFETY IS A GLOBAL ISSUE

The purpose of this chapter is to give a brief overview of the scope of the road accident problem worldwide and how it is a serious problem almost everywhere. Also it aims to show a comparative summary of the road safety situation across different regions over the world. 

The road safety problem has seen in many countries as accidents that happen by chance. In the year 2004, road safety received a considerable attention at national and international levels. This was a result, among with other things, from the WHO health day on 17 April. WHO launched a global campaign titled Road Safety is No Accidenf to raise awareness about road traffic injuries and costs. The message of the campaign indicates that road injuries can be prevented by appropriate countermeasures and pohcy. However, many efforts still need to be taken to reduce the severity of this problem in the years to come. 

Apart from these tragic injury losses, road accidents also lead to serious consequences for family social life and the economy. Annually, the cost of road accidents is between one and three percent of a country s Gross National Product (GNP). In a few developing countries, the cost probably is less than this (one per cent of GNP) but this is still a 

Notes Motorisation is taken in this figure as ttie number of vehicles per 100 persons. Personal Risk is fetalities per 100,000 inhabitants. 

Because of the rapid economic growth, motorisation and urbanisation in developing nations are growing very fast. These create a pressure on the transport infrastructure, which is not sufficient or ready to meet such an increase in the number of vehicles and people. The lack of institutional framework, appropriate engineering, education, and law enforcement are important explanations for the severity of the safety problem in these countries. There is a need to bring together all the key departments, agencies and professionals in an effort to improve road safety in the country. 

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