2015 State of Global Road Safety Report
The World Health Organization recently released its 2015 State of Global Road Safety Report which, as its name suggests, outlines both the progress that has been made and the work that still needs to be done around the world to increase road safety for everyone involved. It's always important to remember that road safety doesn't just mean keeping drivers safe from one another - it also means paying attention to pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycle riders and more at the same time.
The Current State of Global Road Safety
The first section of the 2015 State of Global Road Safety Report talked about the current state of global road safety in general terms and, luckily, is filled with good news. Most importantly is the fact that the number of road traffic deaths around the world has plateaued since 2007. While a decrease would be ideal, the fact that this number has not increased in any type of appreciable way is very much a good sign.
Unfortunately, not all of the news contained in the report was good. The risk of dying in a road crash still remains highest in those countries with low and middle income brackets. The area of the world with the highest road traffic death statistics is the African region. The study indicates that increased attention must be given to both pedestrians and cyclists and specifically notes that motorcyclist safety is to be a major priority moving forward, too.
The report also indicated that one of the biggest contributors to road deaths in many of these countries has to do with a general lack of proper emergency care immediately after an accident.
Legislation and Road User Behavior
The next section of the 2015 State of Global Road Safety Report talked about legislation that is being proposed around the world to help curb the type of dangerous road behavior that can lead to injury and death in many circumstances. A number of laws have been enacted based on blood alcohol concentration, for example, designed to reduce road traffic crashes that end in death. Slightly over one half of all countries have also recently enacted laws that not only promote an increased use of seat-belts, but that also reward drivers for doing so.
Additionally, because distracted driving is such a serious threat to road safety around the world, a large amount of research is being done on how to effectively reduce the number of people who engage in dangerous activities like using a mobile phone while driving.
Safer Vehicles and Roads
Perhaps the biggest insight gained by the 2015 State of Global Road Safety Report comes by way of the fact that the majority of all countries currently fail to apply the minimum United Nations safety standards to new cars manufactured in those regions. In particular, safety standards regarding the prevention of front-over accidents and back-over accidents are being poorly implemented across the board.
Rear View Safety and other leading road safety advocate organizations are making significant progress with regards to closing this gap through the release of high quality backup camera systems and other devices designed to pump valuable and actionable visual information directly to the driver where it belongs. These go a long way towards safety road systems that consider the needs of all road users, not just drivers.
Source: https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2015/en/
