[afro-nets] UN Adopts Traffic Resolution amid Dire Mortality Warnings

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

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UN General Assembly Adopts Traffic Resolution amid Dire Mortal-
ity Warnings
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New York, Oct 27 2005 4:00PM

Amid predictions that worldwide traffic deaths will soon out-
strip the deadly scourge of AIDS, the United Nations General As-
sembly resolved to mark a yearly day of remembrance for road
victims, and called on nations globally to improve road safety.

The third Sunday of November will be a day of remembrance for
the 1.2 million people who die due to traffic accidents every
year, the General Assembly agreed in a resolution passed on
Wednesday.

Another 20 to 50 million people are injured every year as a re-
sult of speeding, the increasing use of cars and rapid urbaniza-
tion, and death from motorist accidents is likely to surpass
mortality from AIDS by the year 2020, predicted the World Health
Organization (WHO).

The current estimated cost of traffic accidents worldwide is
$517 billion annually, or 2.2 per cent of GDP, and both deaths
and costs will rise where there is a lack of appropriate road
engineering and injury prevention programmes in public health
sectors, the agency said. With over 90 per cent of motorist-
related deaths occurring in low and middle income countries, the
impending health crisis will affect them disproportionately as well,
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/ 

WHO said.

Currently, Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) are ranked after Malaria
as the 9th most frequent cause of death, while lower respiratory
infections are ranked the number one reason for mortality world-
wide. But by 2020, death from traffic injuries is predicted to
become the number three reason for death, following ischaemic
heart disease and unipolar major depression, said WHO.

"There appears to be little awareness of [RTI] contribution to
the burden of disease, so they are seriously neglected in re-
search and policy," WHO concluded in their report. That problem
is accentuated in low and middle income countries that are more
likely to experience a steady increase in deaths from traffic
accidents, partly because efforts to reduce the impact of in-
creased motorization have been minimal, the agency said.

In adopting the resolution, the General Assembly invited States
to implement recommendations in the "World Report on Road Traf-
fic Injury Prevention" compiled by WHO, to collect meaningful
road data and enhance information networks, establish national
lead agencies on road safety and create action plans to reduce
traffic injuries.

Oman's representative Fuad Al-Hinai, who introduced the resolu-
tion called on Member States to build capacity for managing road
safety systems, and to pass legislation that would make vehi-
cles, roadways, and drivers safer.