[sustran] Fw: [NewMobilityCafe] S/E Asia: Road accidents will cost region 385, 000lives and US$88 billion

[Kisan Mehta]

Dear Colleagues,

See the warning on the road fatalities in some SE Asian countries.  Though India is not mentioned in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Report,  conditions in India are no better.  Mumbai with a population of 11.91 million (Census of India 2001) has the highest road fatality rate. The World Bank bermoans the high road fatality rate in which according ot hte Bank pedestrians form 95% of  victims.  Yet it has exended libearal loan for expressways but not a rupee (a cent in American paralance) for pavewment construction.  Recently the Bank  refusaed loan for pavement construction in Mumbai. 

The solution does not however lie in creating more roads, because the poor countires cannot afford to construct and maintain sophisticated roads but in providing foolproof pedestrian safety facilities and in stopping  the ingress of motorised vehicles in crowded human settlements. 

The ADB is known for supporting highway construction by extending liberal loans and grantson.  It supports  motorisation.  

Somehow it has not succeeded in extending mega loans to Indian authorities.  The ADB was eying the Mumbai Ahmedabad Delhi expressway some 15 years ago but nothing concrete came out. 

But that does not mean that we should be callous to ADB warning. We should use it to provide safety to citizens.  Our narrow roads are clogged with vehicles but do not have pavements and safety facilities.   Best wishes.

Kisan Mehta 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: EcoPlan, Paris 
To: Sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org 
Cc: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 3:21 PM
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] S/E Asia: Road accidents will cost region 385,000lives and US$88 billion


Asia must put brake on road deaths: ADB

 

2004/11/23
MANILA, Reuters

 

Roads in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand are the deadliest in Southeast Asia but accidents will cost the entire region 385,000 lives and US$88 billion in the next five years without a concerted plan for traffic safety, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday. 

The Asia-Pacific region racks up 44 percent of the world's road deaths each year, despite having just 14 percent of its vehicles, the Manila-based bank said in a report to be discussed by transport ministers meeting in Cambodia this week. 

Motorcycles figured prominently in crashes last year that killed 75,000 people, injured 4.7 million people and cost Southeast Asia about US$15 billion in economic losses, or 2.2 percent of the region's total gross domestic product. 

"Official statistics grossly underestimate the actual numbers of persons killed or injured in road accidents," the ADB said in a statement. 

"Such huge recurring losses are not sustainable and action has to be taken to implement a regional strategy and action plan to promote road safety." 

The ADB said it had helped the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations to draft a five-year program, based on successful road safety schemes from around the world. Implementing the plan - which calls for better analysis, a multi-sector approach and adequate resources - would save 42,000 lives and US$10.6 billion in the region over the next five years, the ADB said. The biggest discrepancies between police reports and ADB research on the number of road deaths and injuries were in Indonesia and the Philippines, the bank said. 

Singapore fares best, losing 0.5 percent of its GDP to road accidents each year. Cambodia suffers the most, at 3.21 percent. 

Indonesia lost the most last year in economic terms at more than US$6 billion from its estimated 30,464 traffic deaths. 

Vietnam was second with 13,186 deaths last year, followed by Thailand at 13,116, the Philippines at 9,000 and Malaysia at 6,282. Singapore was the safest place with 211 fatalities. 



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