Abstract
Worldwide, traffic deaths are 500,000 per year and growing. Four nations, China, India, Russia, and the United States of America, have reached levels of 45,000–50,000 traffic deaths per year, although the nature of the problem is quite different in fully motorized countries from what it is in motorizing countries. In motorizing countries the death rates per 10,000 motor vehicles are much higher than in motorized countries, and also the traffic stream is much more varied. Research for the reduction of traffic injuries is funded at a proportionately much lower level than that for heart disease, cancer, or AIDS. Part of the reason for this is the failure of governments to view and to treat the problem of traffic injuries as a public health problem, but rather to view it solely as a transport problem or as a police matter. A case is made for global mechanisms for the transfer of traffic injury reducing technology from fully motorized nations to motorizing nations.
Résumé
La mortalité par accidents de la route est de 500,000 par an dans le monde, et ne cesse d'augmenter d'année en année. Quatre pays, la Chine, l'Inde, la Russie et les Etats-Unis ont atteint le niveau de 45,000 à 50,000 morts par accident de la route par an, bien que les aspects du problème diffèrent beaucoup d'un pays complètement motorisé des autres pays, “en voie de motorisation”. Dans les pays en voie de motorisation, le taux de mortalité pour 10000 véhicles est beacoup plus élevé que dans les pays motorisés; de même, le “débit” sur le réseau routier est plus varié. Le financement de la recherche pour la réduction des accidents de la route est proportionnellement beaucoup moins favorisé que pour celle des maladies cardiaques, du cancer ou celui du SIDA. Ceci est dû, en partie, au fait que beaucoup de gouvernments considèrent et traitent le problème des accidents de la route comme un problème du transport ou de police, et non pas comme un véritable problème de santé publique. On plaide ici pour un échange des connaissances technologiques permettant de réduire le nombre d'accidents des pays complètement motorisés vers les pays en voie de motorisation.
Resumen
Las cifras de muertes por accidentes de tráfico a nivel mundial son del orden de 500,000 por ano, y en ascenso. Cuatro naciones—China, India, Rusia y los EUA—han alcanzado niveles de 45,000–50,000 muertes por año, aunque la naturaleza del problema es bien diferente en los países totalmente motorizados que en los países en vía de motorización; en los últimos las tasas de muerte por 10.000 vehículos automotores son bastante más altas que en los países motorizados, y el flujo del tráfico es mucho más variado. La investigación sobre reducción de accidentes de tráfico recibe bastante menores recursos que la investigación sobre enfermedad cardíaca, cáncer o SIDA. Se sugiere que esto se debe en parte a que los gobiernos no ven ni tratan el problema de los accidentes de tránsito como uno de salud pública, sino sólo como un problema del transporte, un problema de policía. Se plantea la necesidad de establecer mecanismos globales para la transferencia de las tecnologías relativas a la reducción de accidentes de tráfico de las naciones totalmente motorizadas a las naciones en vía de motorización.
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Campbell, B.J. Reducing traffic injury: Size of the problem and lack of research resources. World J. Surg. 16, 384–388 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02104436
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02104436