According to a new study, more than half a million deaths could be prevented each year by ensuring people wear helmets and seat belts, respect speed limits and don't drive while drunk.
There is traffic along a road.
Researchers estimated that up to 40% of road deaths could be prevented by targeting speeding, drunk driving and helmet and seat belt use.
Tackling speeding with changes such as infrastructure improvement or electronic speed controls would save the most deaths, with researchers estimating that more than 350,000 deaths would be saved annually.
In the U.S., about 43,000 lives could be saved each year by targeting all four of these factors, according to the paper.
The majority of traffic deaths are preventable, according to Dr. Adnan Hyder, professor of global health at George Washington University.
There are nearly 1.5 million. 50 million people are injured each year from traffic accidents. Low- and middle-income countries have the majority of deaths.
There have been many successes on road safety at the global level, but the rhetoric hasn't delivered results on the ground. A real, sustained decline in global road traffic injuries and deaths will only happen with a focus on implementation of effective interventions.
Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 29 in the world, while low- and middle-income countries have the greatest number of deaths and injuries from road traffic incidents. More than 42,000 people died in traffic crashes in the U.S. in 2021, a 10% increase from the previous year. The world is at a high risk of not achieving the goal of halving traffic deaths by the year 2030. It may be more difficult for governments to achieve this goal as they have had to shift their priorities. Minimum drinking age laws, seat belt and helmet laws, enforcement of speeding laws, and lower blood- alcohol level requirements for new drivers have been shown to prevent traffic deaths.
Traffic deaths hit their highest level in fifteen years.
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