Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

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Natural and human-made disasters
Box 9.2 Risk factors determining incidence and severity of
traffic accidents
Factors that contribute to the risk of occurrence of a road crash include:
Exposure: amount of travel undertaken, defined as the number of trips, the distance travelled,
or time in the road environment.
Behavioural factors: human behaviour, including the extent of knowledge and understanding
of traffic systems, driver experience, skill and attitudes to risk, and the relationship between risk
and factors, such as speed choice and alcohol consumption.
Vehicle factors: vehicle design and safety features, such as braking systems, lighting and tyre
quality.
Road environment: road safety engineering and traffic management make a direct contribution
to reducing crash risk. Road design affects road user behaviour and crash risk through the
speed that drivers will perceive as appropriate, through detailed design factors such as curves,
gradients and road markings, and through failure to provide facilities for vulnerable road users.
The likelihood of injury occurring is determined by the above factors, but also:
Vulnerable road users: road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorized two-wheeler
riders are especially vulnerable to injury worldwide.
Use of safety devices: these include seat belts and helmet use.
Post-crash medical care: the outcome of a road crash for the victims, in terms of their
chance of survival and long-term prognosis, is affected by the level of available medical care.
Source: Commission for <strong>Global</strong> Road Safety, 2006
Vulnerability to
death from traffic
accidents is …
differentiated by
gender and age
Vulnerability to death from traffic accidents is also
differentiated by gender and age. In 2002, 73 per cent of all
people who died from road traffic accidents were men. 24
Road traffic mortality rates were found to be higher among
men than women in all world regions, regardless of income
level, and also across all age groups. This difference is likely
to result from a combination of greater exposure to traffic,
partly through a gendered division of employment, and also
of social factors such as greater risk-taking behaviour among
young men.
Age is also associated with vulnerability to traffic
accidents. The youth have been recognized as a particularly
vulnerable group in a recent report launched during the first
United Nations <strong>Global</strong> Road Safety Week (23–29 April
2007). 25 Worldwide, 30 per cent of those killed by road
traffic accidents are under the age of 25. Road traffic
accidents are the leading cause of death for young people
aged 15 to 19, and the second leading cause of death for
those aged 10 to 14 and 20 to 24. 26 Mortality data shows
that young men are the most vulnerable to traffic accidents.
Worldwide, injuries among children under the age of
15 present a major problem. The extent and patterns of
child road injury are linked to differences in road use. In
Africa, children are more likely to be hurt as pedestrians and
as users of public transport. In Southeast Asia, it is as pedestrians,
bicyclists and, increasingly, as passengers on motor
scooters, and in Europe and North America, it is as passengers
in private motor cars and as pedestrians, that children
are at greatest risk of a road traffic injury. The burden of
injury is unequal. More boys are injured than girls, and
children from poorer families have higher rates of injury.
Even in high-income countries, research has shown that
children from poorer families and ethnic minority groups
have higher rates of road traffic accident injury, particularly
in the case of child pedestrians. 27
100
80
Mortality (cumulative %)
60
40
20
Figure 9.1
Road users killed by
transport mode as a
proportion of all road
traffic deaths
0
Australia
Delhi,
India
Bandung,
Indonesia
Japan Malaysia Netherlands Norway Colombo,
Sri Lanka
Thailand
USA
Source: Mohan, 2002b; note that
data is from various years
Pedestrian
4-wheel motor vehicle 2-wheel motor vehicle Cyclist
Other