Geneva, May 18 (Prensa Latina) Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world hardest hit by road accidents, with a death rate of 27 per 100,000 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
Such events are the leading cause of death among young Africans. As a result, governments across the continent decided to embark on a new common direction as WHO-sponsored World Road Safety Week takes place May 15-21.
The number registered by this African region is three times higher than the European average of nine per 100,000 and well above the world average of 18 per 100,000.
The measures have been spurred by increasingly grim statistics, including two bus crashes that killed 62 people in Senegal last January, while in neighboring Ivory Coast the daily number of such fatal incidents rose to 46 per 12 in 2012.
As the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for road safety, Jean Todt, explained, deaths from road accidents in Africa account for about a quarter of the world’s toll, despite accounting for barely two percent of the total number of car park casualties.
“The African continent is particularly affected by the tragedy of road accidents, which are the main cause of youth mortality,” he said.
Traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. About 1.3 million people die and 50 million are injured each year.
They are also the leading cause of death among children and young people aged between five and 29, with pedestrians and cyclists accounting for one in four deaths from such causes.
The global plan for the 2021-2030 Decade of Action for Road Safety targets a 50 percent reduction in road-related deaths and injuries by 2030.
mem/crc