'Road deaths like an epidemic'

Abu Dhabi: Traffic accidents are no less than a global epidemic, killing over 1.2 million people annually, said the President of the International Road Safety Organisation, PRI, Joop Goos, stressing the importance of recognising the magnitude of the worldwide problem of accidents.

"However, it is a problem which is often underestimated, because of which it does not get the due amount of attention it deserves," he told Gulf News, at the sidelines of the International Symposium on Traffic Safety Management Systems, that began on Sunday.

"Each year 50 million people are injured and over 1.2 million are killed in traffic accidents, which means on an average of 3,242 casualties each day. This number is comparable to the number of deaths following a major natural disaster," Goos pointed out. "Traffic accidents are like everyday disasters that happen without the world really noticing," he added.

"But they are not really natural disasters that cannot be stopped and they are not the price for mobility that we simply have to pay. Lack of road safety can be fought effectively," he said.

Taking responsibility

Quoting the World Health Organisation, Goos said that the number of road traffic fatalities worldwide are predicted to increase by 67 per cent over the period from 2000 to 2020. For the Middle East and North Africa region, the predicted rise is 68 per cent.

"In UAE too, the picture does not look very good. In 2003 road traffic deaths were the second leading cause of deaths in UAE. Some 70.5 per cent of all accidental deaths were traffic accidents. Also, among the Arab countries the highest traffic death toll is in the UAE," said Goos.

He added that the forecasts clearly show the need to take action and to make road safety an important top priority.

Pointing out that establishing road safety is a collective responsibility, he said that it is time to start behaving as a civil society: "a society with shared responsibility which really stands up for vulnerable road users and which takes full responsibility for fighting the number of traffic deaths and injuries," said Goos.

Figures: A heavy price