Road insecurity, another of the pandemics that hit Latin America

Avenue in the center of Buenos Aires. Juan Ignacio Coda / World Bank.

What are the steps to start a car?

Adjusting the seat belt, inserting the ignition key in the ignition and placing the gear lever in its right position are necessary to make any vehicle go.

However, to reach your destination, there are many other factors that are invisible to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians but are essential to be able to travel safely.

Proper infrastructure, constant maintenance, and speed limits are just some of the hidden parts that serve to protect everyone who takes to the streets.

A new report by the GRSF (Global Road Safety Fund) with support from the World Bank and the British aid agency, analyzes the challenges and opportunities of this protection network in low- and middle-income countries.

Building and consolidating road safety systems is not an easy task and they face a great challenge: the rising trend of deaths and injuries from traffic accidents.

The latest data available for Latin America indicates that 107,000 people lost their lives due to traffic accidents in 2016 alone. This figure seems lower when the same document states that more than 1.3 million people die each year during this type of incident.

The biggest problem is that Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the regions with the highest mortality rate due to road accidents, behind Africa and the Middle East.

In addition to its position on the podium, it is the region that registered the least progress towards the decline of this indicator.

These figures are accompanied by a rapid increase in the number of motorized vehicles, which increased by 60% between 2005 and 2015 throughout the region.

Cyclists and young people, the most exposed

At the same time that the culture of urban cycling transforms cities and towns, cyclists are one of the groups most exposed to accidents in the region: almost 20 out of 100 deaths from accidents used their bicycle, tripling the world reference values.

A road infrastructure designed for motorized vehicles is only one of the causes that explain this data.

Young people are also especially vulnerable, and road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among children and young people aged 5 to 29, according to data from the World Health Organization.

According to the FIA ​​Foundation, about 20,000 children lose their lives on the roads of the region each year, or what is the same 46 child deaths per day.

Speeding is an important risk factor that increases the chances of injury in traffic accidents.According to GRSF experts, a 5% reduction in average speed can lead to a 20% drop in the number of traffic accidents mortals.

However, 20% of Latin American and Caribbean countries do not have maximum speed laws at the national level.

In addition to the loss of human life, the lack of road safety has a high economic impact for the region.

According to GRSF experts, Latin America faced a total cost of 312 billion dollars in 2016 alone due to deaths and injuries caused by traffic accidents.

In addition, 77% of the victims were within the economically active population, impacting the availability of Latin American human capital.

Pillars of the system

Ending this pandemic requires innovative solutions to break the trend.

For this, comprehensive, coordinated and evidence-based actions are needed.

A necessary first step is to make a critical analysis of the starting point in order to have accurate data on reality.

According to the same GRSF report, 90% of the actions that have been taken on road safety issues in low- and middle-income countries are limited to legislation and education strategies, ignoring other relevant factors.

This limits public policy efforts, and reduces the chances of success.

Ending accidents requires a comprehensive approach, with the protection of human lives at its core.

Thus, adequate infrastructure, proper road management, the development of safer vehicles and emergency care are just some of the points to take into account for a safe system approach, the report concludes.

Leandro Hernández

is an online producer for the World Bank.