A recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the devastating toll that road crashes have globally. The United Nations agency estimates there were 1.19 million deaths in 2021. Such a high human cost is only compounded by the staggering $1.8 trillion cost on the world’s economy these incidents have. While the figures do seem bleak, the world’s roadways are gradually getting safer, and WHO has laid out common-sense measures for countries to improve road safety.
WHO’s Global Status Report on Road Safety outlined how the United Nations undisputedly failed its decade-long objective of a 50-percent reduction in road fatalities by 2020. Deaths only dropped by five percent. “Road injury” also remains the leading cause of death for people under 30. The economic toll is just as staggering. The report reads:
“As a leading cause of death and major contributor to disability, road traffic injuries also impose an enormous economic cost on societies. Some estimates put the global macroeconomic cost of road traffic injuries as high as US$ $1.8 trillion, roughly equivalent to 10–12% of global gross domestic product. As such, road traffic injuries are an important health and development challenge.”
The report from the global health agency laid out five best-practice laws to improve road safety: a 30-mile-per-hour speed limit in urban areas, a national drunk driving law with a blood alcohol content limit under 0.05 percent, a national motorcycle helmet use requirement, a national seat-belt use requirement regardless of seating position and a national child-restain system use requirement for children up to 10 years old. According to WHO, the United States fulfilled none of these criteria.
The United States is one of the safer countries for road users. The risk of death is three times higher in low-income countries compared to high-income countries despite having just one percent of the world’s motor vehicles. The highest number of deaths occur in Southeast Asia, with nearly half of fatalities involving motorized two and three-wheeled vehicles. Hopefully, governments make more of an effort to improve road safety over the next decade.