Traffic Injury Prevention
Why Employers Care
If current trends continue, the number of people killed and injured on the world's roads will rise by more than 60% between 2000 and 2020. Most of these injuries will occur in developing countries where more and more people are using motorized transport. In these countries, cyclists, motorcyclists, users of public transport, and pedestrians are especially vulnerable to road traffic injuries.
What Employers Can Do
There are solutions to the road safety problem. A wide range of effective interventions exist, and experience in countries with long histories of motorized travel has shown that a scientific, "systems approach" to road safety is essential to tackling the problem. This approach addresses the traffic system as a whole and looks at the interactions between vehicles, road users and the road infrastructure to identify solutions.
According to the World Health Organization, there are five key areas for intervention.1 Employers can play a critical role in educating the workforce about these areas:
- Speed: Contributes to at least 30% of road traffic crashes and deaths.
- Alcohol: Any amount in the blood increases the risk of accidents.
- Seat belts: Usage has saved more lives than any other intervention.
- Helmets: Head trauma is the main cause of death and disability in drivers of motorized two wheelers.
- Visibility: One third of people hit on the road report they had difficulty seeing the vehicle; almost half of drivers have difficulty in seeing pedestrians.
Global Health Benefits Institute Resources
1 WHO. Road Traffic Injury Prevention. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2007
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