Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

224
Natural and human-made disasters
Safety is often
compromised by
informal transport
operators…
Road crash injury is
largely preventable
and predictable…
owned minibuses, trucks or cars have filled the transport
gap, often without adequate regulation and consideration of
safety measures. Examples of informal or semi-formal transports
include the matatu in Kenya (minibuses); Manila’s
jeepneys (remodelled trucks); the dolmus of Istanbul
(minibuses); the dala dala of Tanzania (minivans); the tro-tro
of Ghana (minivans); the Haitian tap-tap (remodelled trucks);
and the molue (large buses, locally known as ‘moving
morgues’) and danfo (minibuses, locally referred to as ‘flying
coffins’) in Nigeria. 35 Safety is often compromised by informal
transport operators due to competition, lack of
awareness or flagrant violation of traffic rules, and poor
vehicle maintenance. 36
PREVENTING AND
MITIGATING LOSS FROM
TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS
Traffic accidents and subsequent loss are the products of
human behaviour, but also of urban planning and design,
both of which are amenable to development policy.
Preventing and mitigating the impact of traffic accidents
requires interventions to address the multiple risk factors
underlying those accidents (see Box 9.2). This section
explores contemporary policies to reduce traffic accidents
and improve road safety, in general. These include transport
and urban planning; the promotion of safe behaviour;
improvement of accident response and recovery; improvements
in traffic accidents data collection; traffic
management and building institutions; and enhancing awareness
of road safety. Other aspects of transport safety that do
not touch upon urban planning or social and economic development,
such as vehicle design, safety standards and hospital
capability, are not discussed in detail.
The WHO recommends that the severity and consequences
of injury from traffic accidents can be controlled by
acting on four fronts: reducing exposure to risk; preventing
road traffic accidents from occurring; reducing the severity
Box 9.5 Reducing road traffic injuries: The experience of
high-income countries (HICs)
Fatalities from road traffic accidents rose rapidly in high-income countries (HICs) during the
1950s and 1960s, following rapid motorization, eventually peaking in the 1970s. Since the 1980s
and 1990s, injuries have been reduced in many HICs by as much as 50 per cent despite continued
traffic growth. This has been attributed to a shift from focusing on ‘behaviour’ alone to
safety systems such as good road and vehicle design and traffic management. A combination of
measures has been taken by HICs to reduce road injuries, including:
Safe road users: enforcement of laws to moderate the behaviour of drivers, such as speed
limits, drink-driving laws, seat belt-use laws and helmet-use laws, have been very effective.
Safer vehicles: improvements in vehicle design have improved the chances of survival in
motor vehicle crashes.
Safer road infrastructure: engineering measures such as signs, lane separation, pedestrian
crossings and traffic-calming measures have helped to reduce road traffic causalities.
Source: Commission for <strong>Global</strong> Road Safety, 2006
of injury in the event of an accident; and reducing the consequences
of injury through improved post-accident care.
High-income countries have successfully reduced injuries
from traffic accidents by adopting such multifaceted policy
approaches (see Box 9.5). Policies targeting a single mode of
transportation, although effective, need to be supplemented
by interventions addressing related factors that reduce road
safety. For instance, Box 9.6 describes the experience of
transport safety reform targeting minibus taxis in Kenya. It is
not unusual for such reforms to be met with resistance from
those with a vested interest in the status quo. In cities and
countries where the transport sector has political and
economic clout, change can be very slow.
The need for innovative and dedicated work to reduce
mortality and injury from traffic accidents worldwide has
been widely recognized by the international community. The
WHO’s proposed seven-point plan for understanding and
reducing road traffic accidents may be an appropriate starting
point in the global fight against traffic accidents: 37
1 Road crash injury is largely preventable and predictable
– it is a human-made problem amenable to rational
analysis and counter-measures.
2 Road safety is a multi-sectoral and public health issue –
all sectors, including health, need to be fully engaged in
responsibility, activity and advocacy for road crash injury
prevention.
3 Common driving errors and common pedestrian behaviour
should not lead to death and serious injury – the
traffic system should help users to cope with increasingly
demanding conditions.
4 The vulnerability of the human body should be a limiting
design parameter for the traffic system, and speed
management is central.
5 Road crash injury is a social equity issue – the aim
should be equal protection to all road users since nonmotor
vehicle users bear a disproportionate share of
road injury and risk.
6 Technology transfer from high-income to low-income
countries needs to fit local conditions and should
address research-based local needs.
7 Local knowledge needs to inform the implementation of
local solutions.
Improving road safety through transport and
urban planning
The urgent need to address transport and road safety
concerns in cities is evident; yet, several challenges remain.
Rapidly growing megacities are especially constrained in this
regard; but medium-sized and small urban centres should
not be neglected either. It is particularly important to focus
on medium-sized centres, given that these are the cities
where future population growth may be most rapid in aggregate
and where planning now can potentially avoid some of
the problems being experienced by the largest cities.
Recent work on medium-sized cities in Asia shows the
potential for coordinating urban and transport planning to
simultaneously address road safety, air pollution and pro-