[sustran] Road crashes a growing world cause of death

[Britton EcoPlan]

Dear Friends,

Thought that this note which recently came in over the transom might make a useful addition to our exchanges this topic.  I
 have encouraged Dr. Hussain to participate directly in this debate, and am hopeful that John Whitelegg (J.Whitelegg at lancaster.ac.uk) may
consider getting out a special edition of Journal of World Transport Policy and Practice on this important topic.

Eric Britton

______________________________


-------------Forwarded Message-----------------

From:	Ahuss666, INTERNET:Ahuss666 at aol.com
To:	[Britton], ecoplan_the_commons
	
Date:	12/5/97  5:50 AM

Dear Mr. Britton,





 I am in the early stages of preparing for the first World Congress on Child Traffic Safety.
Ironically, no one on Earth, to my best knowledge, knows the number of 
children's casualties in road CRASHES (as they are called now in the US). 
If you kindly remember that among my comments in Vancouver I
stated that my conservative estimates indicate that the global figure for road
accident fatalities and injuries are at least 750,000 and 25-30 million
respectively, and one of the Dutch delegates asked if I agree to be quoted on
that figure. 

The UNDP Human Development Report 1996, for the first time gave a
rate for road accident casualties per 100,000 population which when multiplied
by the figure of the world population revealed a scary 42 million population.
In the same year, WRI using WHO data indicated that the number of road
fatalities worldwide in 1993 was 885,000. When these figures are compared with
figures released by renowned institutions ranging from 300,000 to 500,000, you
realize that global road safety research is still in its infancy stages. In
his thick document on the occasion of the UN 50th Anniversary, the UNSG talked
about the 17,000 victims of natural disasters in four years. 

Now, when it comes to the global portion of children casualties, it is everybody's guess.
My conservative estimates range between 25-40%. On the other hand CRSI was
established as a result of my frustration in the way traffic safety is
comprehended in the developed and developing countries. Think of the car toys
given to the children when they are 2-3 years old, and how toys become more
sophisticated as the child grow up coupled with TV adds on the unlimited
number of car makes and models. The kid now is eager and eligible to get his
driving license. At that junction we try to teach him to be a safe driver............

We tend to concentrate on cure-oriented solutions for road
CRASHES, although a lot is said on prevention. I believe, that current
philosophies of traffic safety are not adequate to tackle today's and
tomorrow's carnage of road crashes. 

Let me now put this bit of info before you for your respective thought. 
The American Lung Association, cited in a Canadian
publication, found in a recent study that 120,000 Americans die because of air
pollution from road vehicles across the US, and the cost of medical care in
that respect was estimated to be about $US 30 billion. This is the case in a
country that phased-out lead in gasoline since 1986, and has a relatively
accepted levels of other air pollutants in a fair number of states. Is not
logical to assume that the death risk imposed on children and adults as a
result of air pollution outweigh that of the road CRASHES? 

Accordingly, we should re-think defining road safety. But when it comes to data and information on traffic safety in developing countries, and specifically in human settlements,
we are almost in dark ages. When adding the guessed economic dimension of at
least US$100 billion per year, we find that there is certainly something extra
ordinary that a problem of this size is not felt by the UN, Governments, or
multilateral funding agencies. 

The year 2000 would hopefully witness the beginning of putting some facts 
in the right place to got the right solution. My vision, with some optimism, 
or a sustainable global traffic safety extends to 50-100 years. 

Finally, I think it is people like yourself and others
who should prove to the UN that AGENDA 21 is a good document that could only
be implemented by people who are dedicated to the cause, have vision, new
technology knowledge and skill: people who can identify, develop, implement,
and evaluate sustainable solution programmes. 

The problem developing countries face, development wise, is that the
knowledge's link between those who govern and the governed seem to be
deficient or non-existent. If the causes of known problems are brought to the
discussion table, life will be much easier and results will be felt. Else, it
will be the same old LOOP. 

Regards.

Dr. Ayad M. Hussain
Child Road Safety Institute
P.O. Box 616
Totowa, NJ 07511, USA