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Road traffic
injuries are a major but neglected public health challenge that requires
concerted efforts for effective and sustainable prevention. Of all the
systems with which people have to deal every day, road traffic systems are
the most complex and the most dangerous. Worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million
people are killed in road crashes each year and as many as 50 million are
injured. Projections indicate that these figures will increase by about 65%
over the next 20 years unless there is new commitment to prevention.
Nevertheless, the tragedy behind these figures attracts less mass media attention
than other, less frequent types of tragedy.
The World
report on road traffic injury prevention is the first major report being
jointly issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank on
this subject. It underscores their concern that unsafe road traffic systems
are seriously harming global public health and development. It contends that
the level of road traffic injury is unacceptable and that it is largely
avoidable.
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