?The U.S. has nearly triple the fatalities of countries like Sweden or the Netherlands? A new report examining the global crisis of road deaths and traffic fatalities around the world found that a more systemic approach to safety and traffic infrastructure can save lives. Despite having more resources to tackle road redesigns and reduce traffic fatalities, the United States isn?t keeping up with many of its peer nations when it comes to creating safer streets.
Sustainable and Safe: A Vision and Guidance for Zero Road Deaths, a joint report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Bank, analyzed how countries around the world approach traffic safety and roadway design. Road deaths are a global issue: 1.25 million people are killed on the world?s roads each year, making it the 10th leading cause of death worldwide, especially among vulnerable populations of the elderly, young, and poor. This tragic loss is compounded by economic costs, estimated to be $220 billion, or 5 percent of GDP, in a study of 82 countries. While the situation in low- and middle-income countries has reached ?epidemic proportions? according to report, coauthors Ben Welle and Anna Bray Sharpin, both WRI researchers, say the U.S. has a particularly poor record of improving traffic safety in relation to the resources at its disposal.
?The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, yet we have a very poor record of road safety,? says Welle. ?The U.S. has nearly triple t...