A new report, by the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), aims to help support 125 low- and middle-income countries to improve road safety.
The Guide for Road Safety Opportunities and Challenges: Low- and Middle-income Country Profiles was presented at the 3rd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm and gives a precise assessment on the magnitude and complexity of road safety challenges faced by low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).
It has been written to help policy makers understand the road safety framework in context of their own country systems and performance. The guide also aims to help countries build and appreciate the business case for vital road safety investment.
Every year, 1.35 million people are killed on the world’s roads, and a further 50 million are injured, with more than 90 percent occurring in LMICs.
The GRSF says a major barrier to improving this situation is a lack of understanding of the problem due to deficient information. Many vital metrics of road safety performance are not measured effectively in most LMICs, including the actual number of road crash fatalities and serious injuries.
“This ground-breaking report responds to the urgent need to collect and document road safety performance data—an important step toward a clear understanding of the problem,” said Makhtar Diop, Vice President for Infrastructure, World Bank.
“As the road safety challenge moves into a new decade, this report will help build on achievements at the local, regional and national levels, and strengthen the foundation for a new phase of action.”
