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222Natural and human-made disastersBox 9.2 Risk factors determining incidence and severity oftraffic accidentsFactors 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 understandingof traffic systems, driver experience, skill and attitudes to risk, and the relationship between riskand factors, such as speed choice and alcohol consumption.Vehicle factors: vehicle design and safety features, such as braking systems, lighting and tyrequality.Road environment: road safety engineering and traffic management make a direct contributionto reducing crash risk. Road design affects road user behaviour and crash risk through thespeed 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-wheelerriders 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 theirchance of survival and long-term prognosis, is affected by the level of available medical care.Source: Commission for Global Road Safety, 2006Vulnerability todeath from trafficaccidents is …differentiated bygender and ageVulnerability to death from traffic accidents is alsodifferentiated by gender and age. In 2002, 73 per cent of allpeople who died from road traffic accidents were men. 24Road traffic mortality rates were found to be higher amongmen than women in all world regions, regardless of incomelevel, and also across all age groups. This difference is likelyto result from a combination of greater exposure to traffic,partly through a gendered division of employment, and alsoof social factors such as greater risk-taking behaviour amongyoung men.Age is also associated with vulnerability to trafficaccidents. The youth have been recognized as a particularlyvulnerable group in a recent report launched during the firstUnited Nations Global Road Safety Week (23–29 April2007). 25 Worldwide, 30 per cent of those killed by roadtraffic accidents are under the age of 25. Road trafficaccidents are the leading cause of death for young peopleaged 15 to 19, and the second leading cause of death forthose aged 10 to 14 and 20 to 24. 26 Mortality data showsthat young men are the most vulnerable to traffic accidents.Worldwide, injuries among children under the age of15 present a major problem. The extent and patterns ofchild road injury are linked to differences in road use. InAfrica, children are more likely to be hurt as pedestrians andas users of public transport. In Southeast Asia, it is as pedestrians,bicyclists and, increasingly, as passengers on motorscooters, and in Europe and North America, it is as passengersin private motor cars and as pedestrians, that childrenare at greatest risk of a road traffic injury. The burden ofinjury is unequal. More boys are injured than girls, andchildren from poorer families have higher rates of injury.Even in high-income countries, research has shown thatchildren from poorer families and ethnic minority groupshave higher rates of road traffic accident injury, particularlyin the case of child pedestrians. 2710080Mortality (cumulative %)604020Figure 9.1Road users killed bytransport mode as aproportion of all roadtraffic deaths0AustraliaDelhi,IndiaBandung,IndonesiaJapan Malaysia Netherlands Norway Colombo,Sri LankaThailandUSASource: Mohan, 2002b; note thatdata is from various yearsPedestrian4-wheel motor vehicle 2-wheel motor vehicle CyclistOther