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Why is Road Safety Important?

Main reasons:

• Road accidents will be with us for a long time
• Accident trends are on the rise and issues need to be addressed
• Comprehensive road safety programs can reverse accident trends
• Road accidents block economic and social development

Road deaths and injuries are increasing at faster pace in Asia than other regions of the world. Current World Bank studies indicate that around 50% of hospitalized road victims in Bangladesh are road accident victims. In 2001, there were about 755,000 road accidents, killing 106,000 and injuring 546,000 persons in the People's Republic of China (PRC). This translates to one death every five minutes. In Malaysia, about 60% of traffic fatalities involve motorized 2-wheelers. In India, fatalities among pedestrians is around 45%.

Typical losses arising from road accidents include

• material damage to property and vehicles
• lost productivity of those killed or injured
• cost of medical treatment
• administrative costs (insurance, police, courts, etc.)
• subjective costs (pain, grief, suffering)
• unquantifiable social and community cost
• poverty

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