Mary Ward has the dubious distinction of probably being the first person to die as a result of an accident involving what in her day was called a horseless carriage. Ms. Ward, an Irish scientist, was riding in her cousin’s steam-powered car when she was thrown from the vehicle and fell under one of its steel wheels. That was on August 31, 1869 and Mary Ward has been joined by tens of millions of other victims of automobile accidents.
Steady Rise in Highway Fatalities
In his 1969 book "Road Accidents: Prevent or Punish?" (re-published in 2007), road engineer John Leeming gathered some figures about road deaths in Britain. From 1863 to 1870, 143 people were killed in road accidents; from 1891 to 1900 the number was 107; for 1931 to 1938 it was 311. After the war came the explosion of private car ownership and the number of fatalities shot up to 10,278 for the year 1963 alone.
That kind of carnage got the attention of politicians and engineers. Highways were made more safe, cars were designed to better protect occupants, seat belts were introduced, policing of excessive speeding was stepped up, and campaigns to reduce drinking and driving were brought in. The result? In 2007, the U.K. Department of Transport reported 2,946 highway fatalities in 2007.
Worldwide Vehicle Deaths Take a Heavy Toll
The Commission for Global Road Safety has some grim news about vehicle deaths around the world:
- “The number injured in road traffic accidents is estimated to be as high as 50 million [a year] – the combined population of five of the world’s large cities;
- “It is expected that, without efforts and new initiatives to tackle the causes of road traffic injuries and deaths, they will rise by some 65% between 2000 and 2020;
- “Over 50% of [vehicle accident] deaths are among young adults in the age range of 15-44 years. For men aged 15-44 road traffic injuries rank second (behind HIV/AIDS) as the leading cause of premature death and ill health worldwide; and,
- “More than 80% of those killed in road traffic crashes live in middle and low income countries.”
The World Bank has some equally chilling numbers:
- South East Asia will see a 144% increase in road deaths by 2020, from a base date of 2000;
- Unless safety measures are improved, India’s road accident death rate is not expected to begin to decline until 2042; and,
- Sub Saharan Africa will have at least 80% more road deaths in 2020 than in 2000.
The Commission for Global Road Safety reports that the World Bank has estimated “that developing countries lose approximately US$100 billion every year due to road crashes. This figure is twice the amount of all development aid provided by donors to developing countries.”
Solutions to Crashes Are Available
As the British showed, there are ways to reduce the automobile death rate.
A study by Israeli and American researchers, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (December 2005), says that lowering speed limits and installing speed camera networks cuts the number of highway deaths.
The study points out that, “In the U.K., for example, the installation of speed cameras, roundabouts (traffic circles) and other measures in the 1990s reduced the number of road deaths by 33.9%.” Other countries saw similar declines from similar measures: “Sweden experienced a 21% drop in fatal crashes, while the figure in Denmark dropped by 24%. In Victoria, Australia, road death tolls have fallen by some 50% in the last 15 years. In Queensland, Australia, 2,500 speed cameras were introduced between 1997 and 2001, resulting in a 31% drop in fatal crashes."
Without such measures being introduced globally the World Health Organization predicts a gloomy future; it sees road accidents killing two million people a year by 2020.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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