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Road fatalities fall by 1.7% in IRTAD countries

Business Materials 21 May 2014 19:04 (UTC +04:00)
The number of road fatalities fell by 1.7% between 2011 and 2012 in the 31 countries covered by the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD), according to the International Transport Forum at the OECD.
Road fatalities fall by 1.7% in IRTAD countries

Leipzig, Germany, May 21

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The number of road fatalities fell by 1.7% between 2011 and 2012 in the 31

countries covered by the International Road Traffic and Accident Database

(IRTAD), according to the International Transport Forum at the OECD.

However, road safety policies are not succeeding in improving protection for

vulnerable road users. The latest available data show that reductions in road deaths among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists have leveled off since 2009/10. In some cases, increases have been recorded.

The data was published today by the International Transport Forum at the Annual Summit of Ministers of Transport in Leipzig, Germany, in its 2014 Road Safety Annual Report.

The increased number of cyclists has been accompanied by a slowing of the

decreasing rate of deadly crashes by cyclists registered in previous years, and in some cases by an increase.

Fatalities among car occupants were reduced by 50% between 2000 and 2012, whereas decreases were only 34% for pedestrians, 31% for cyclists and 17% for motorcyclists.

The share of fatalities among elderly road users is slowly increasing in many IRTAD countries. This reflects the changing age structure of populations. In 2012 the share of fatalities in the age group 65+ for the first time exceeded 30% for European IRTAD counties .

Overall, road safety policies in countries covered by the IRTAD database have been a huge success. Between 2000 and 2012, the annual death toll has fallen by nearly 40% or 45,000 fewer deaths per year when compared with the 2000 level.

While the most recent data overall confirms the downward trend in road deaths, and some countries have achieved historic successes, IRTAD recorded the lowest average reduction rate in ten years. Such a moderate success will be insufficient to contribute substantially to the UN road safety target of halting the global increase in the number of traffic fatalities and reversing the trend

Currently, 1.3 million people die on the world's roads each year, mostly in emerging economies. Forecasts expect the global figure to rise to nearly 2 million in 2020 if no strong action is taken.

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