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9CHAPTERSMALL-SCALE HAZARDS: THE CASEOF ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTSAs noted in Chapter 7, a hazard is a potentially damagingevent that causes loss of life or injury, property damage,social and economic disruption, or environmental degradation.1 A number of less frequent and smaller-scale hazardsinfluence safety and security in urban areas. Yet, whilehazards that trigger large-scale disaster events and thuscause huge losses are well documented, smaller-scalehazards that result in aggregate loss over a longer period oftime are often not recorded. Fire, flooding, building collapseand traffic accidents are some of the small-scale hazardscommon to urban areas.The significance of small-scale hazards is particularlyillustrated by the incidence and impacts of road trafficaccidents, which result in more deaths worldwide each yearthan any large natural or human-made disaster type. Trafficaccidents cause extensive loss of human lives and livelihoodsin urban areas, killing over 1 million people globally everyyear. 2 An absence of systematic data collection on theincidence and impacts of traffic accidents, however, leads totheir invisibility to urban planners and policy-makers.This chapter examines the trends and impacts of roadtraffic accidents in urban areas. The substantial human andeconomic losses from traffic accidents and their linkages toprocesses of urbanization are elaborated upon. Trafficaccidents are examined here in detail because, in aggregate,they cause more loss of human life and economic productivitythan larger-scale natural and human-made disasters.Furthermore, it is important to consider traffic accidents inurban development since they are the products of policyfailures and omissions, not of urban life per se.INCIDENCE AND IMPACTSOF ROAD TRAFFICACCIDENTS: GLOBALTRENDSTraffic accidents, which are reviewed here from a humansettlements perspective, include those involving road-basedmotorized and non-motorized vehicles of various capacities.Traffic accidents range from major events resulting in highloss of human life to everyday incidents whose impacts areonly felt at the individual or household level. They pose aserious threat to the safety and well-being of urban householdson a daily basis by generating economically and sociallyunsustainable outcomes. It is thus important to reviewtraffic accidents as a key hazard threatening the safety andsecurity of urban inhabitants.The following discussion first examines the global andregional incidence and impacts of traffic accidents throughlives lost and economic losses. Different vulnerability factorsare then explored since the distribution of traffic accidentloss in urban areas is not random. In analysing the impacts oftraffic accidents, comprehensive and comparative analysis ofrisk and loss at the national and city levels is difficult sincedata is not available for some potentially high-risk locations.Mortality should be seen as a tip-of-the-iceberg measure ofloss. Data on those injured is less reliable, with many casesnot being reported, and therefore has not been used in thisreport. Indirect impacts are also difficult to analyse withcurrent available data.Impacts on human livesLosses to traffic accidents are commonplace and needlesslydeadly aspects of urban life. The scale of impact of trafficaccidents at the aggregate level is disturbingly large. TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.2 millionpeople are killed in road crashes each year, and as many as50 million are injured. 3 In effect, 3242 individuals die dailyfrom traffic accidents worldwide. 4 Projections indicate thatthese figures will increase by about 65 per cent over thenext 20 years unless there is new commitment to enhanceprevention. Indeed, by 2020, road traffic injuries areexpected to become the third major cause for disease andinjury in the world. Nevertheless, the everyday nature oftraffic accidents means that they attract less policy andmedia attention than the consequent high loss rates deserve.Currently, a disproportionate 90 per cent of thedeaths from traffic accidents worldwide occur in low- andmiddle-income countries. 5 Table 9.1 presents a breakdownof the distribution of reported traffic mortality by worldregion for the year 2002. Separate data is presented formiddle-, low- and high-income countries within each worldregion. It is the low- and middle-income countries in AfricaTraffic accidentscause extensive lossof human lives andlivelihoods in urbanareas, killing over 1million peopleglobally every year…a disproportionate90% of the deathsfrom trafficaccidents worldwideoccur in low andmiddle-incomecountries