Road traffic injuries and tragedy coverage in the media is so small, unlike less frequent tragedies, and since it is so common the problem is now shown as unimportant or not at all. “Road traffic injuries are predicted to become the third largest contributor to the global burden of disease by 2020” (Peden, 2004). As mortality is an essential indicator of the scale of any health problem, including injury, morbidity is just as significant. The non-fatal outcomes or survivors are left with short-term or permanent disabilities that could cause restrictions on their quality of life, and physical, mental, and emotional functioning. Road Traffic injuries are a major but neglected global public health problem, requiring united efforts for effective and sustainable prevention.
2.6% of the global burden of disease and Low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) account for 91.8% of the disability-adjusted life years (DALY’s). Along with deaths between 20 million and 50 million people globally are estimated to be injured or disabled each year (Aeron-Thomas, 2000). Although there are saved lives from road traffic accidents, there are also results of tragedy. Crashes kill 1.2 million people a year or an average 3,242 people every day (Peden, 2004). These road traffic deaths worldwide account for 23% of injury deaths, and 90% of the deaths are in LMIC’s. Only 10% occur in high-come countries for DALY’s. Low and middle-income countries carry most of the burden of the world’s road traffic injuries.
Most road traffic injuries affect people in LMICs, especially young males and vulnerable road users. Although tragedy doesn’t pick its victim and anyone who is a road user is at risk of being injured or killed in an accident there are differences in fatality rates between different road user groups that are identified. A “vulnerable” road users is a pedestrian and two-wheeler user, and they are at greater risk than the person who drives and is more likely to bear the burden of injury. LMICs is where the burden is most common because of the increased and mixed amount of traffic mix and lack of separation from other road users.
The cost to society from road traffic accidents are important for numerous reason, and the secondary consequences can be harmful and positive. The health impact that injuries have is enormous seeing that after the crash individuals have lacerations and fractures. Pain, fear, and fatigue were also commonly found among accident survivors. Injured individuals often suffer physical pain and emotional anguish that can’t be fixed by money, for example, a permeant disability like paraplegia, loss of eyesight, or brain damage. Victims of accident could have one or more of these limitations and it affects many of their goals they have set for themselves. Road traffic injuries are a substantial public health and development problem.
Traffic accidents occur because of various reasons. Road traffic injury is a complex one, and it is due to events, economic and social changes. Causal mechanisms that are the result of injuries are speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and other psychoactive substances, and unsafe road infrastructure (WHO, 2017). Speeding of motor vehicles is at the core of the road injury problem because speed influences crash risk and crash consequences. Crash risk increases as speed increases, especially at road junctions and overtaking which is when a road user underestimates the speed and overestimates the distance of an approaching vehicle. Driving while under the influence has been shown in countless studies that doing so put drivers at higher risk of involvement in a crash.
“Drivers and motorcyclist with any level of BAC greater than zero are at higher risk of a crash than those whose BAC is zero” (Borkenstein, 1964). When alcohol is consumed, it not only affects the driver of the vehicle but it also puts pedestrians and riders of motorized two-wheelers at risk. While drinking and driving causes more deaths than other drugs, any medication or drug can affect your central nervous system can impair drivers. Medicinal and recreational drugs are harder to track regarding increased crash risk but what we do know is that most drugs do not exhibit a simple relationship between drug blood-content and level of impairment like alcohol does. All this information is still inadequate knowledge when determining the level of risk that could occur. For most low- income and middle-income countries of blood-screening procedures and confirmation tests for measuring alcohol and drug levels are problems because of the lack of resources.
When crashes occur, they tend to be clustered at singles sites, along with sections of road, or scattered across residential neighborhoods not evenly distributed throughout. Poor engineering of road contributes to crashes, and the road network also helps because it determines how road users perceive their environments and provide instructions for road users, through signs and traffic controls which if that is not running smooth causes more road injury risks. Poor design of junctions or by design that allows vast differences in the speed and the mass of vehicles are also safety defects that contribute to constant road traffic accidents. The compositions of roads or lack thereof have a considerate impact on road safety.
Young drivers and riders are the leading cause of death due to road crash injury (Peden, 2000). Young drivers have a higher risk than older drivers and being both young and inexperienced contribute to high risk of drivers and riders (Mayhew, 1990). Studies have shown that risk was particularly high during the 12 months after a male had received his driver’s license (Williams, 2003). Teenage drivers are at greater crash risk than any other comparable age group particularly 16 and 17-year-olds. Teenagers are at elevated risk because of factors, for example, psychological characteristics such as thrill-seeking and over-confidence, low tolerance for alcohol, and excess or inappropriate speed which is the most common.
If I were to create an intervention to reduce road traffic accidents, I would focus on alcohol consumption and drivers getting behind the wheel. People know that it’s not safe, but people don’t see the science for why. If they show the effects that alcohol does when a person drinks and the impairment it brings people would take it more seriously. Then publicizing the real scale of road injuries and the problems that it causes to a society and not just an individual. That can directly be shown across networks and in the workforce which then can then provide impartial information for use by policymakers who can instill change in our judicial system. Advocacy efforts have been implemented by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and have shown a remarkable success.
Based in the United States, there have been over 300 excess-alcohol laws, the introduction of random sobriety checks, and the most well-known las a minimum drinking age of 21 years of age. Breathalyzing and sobriety test are not enough and having mass media campaigns paired with these tests will have a significant effect on accidents because it could stop a problem before there is a problem. It can be global, while adjusting naturally to areas of individual countries that may not have access to mass media. There was recently a cost-effective intervention produced and then introduced in Thailand to reduce road traffic injuries related to driving under the influence of alcohol and the results explained that together tests and mass media could reduce accidents by 24% (Ditsuwan, 2012).
Any road traffic system is complex and can cause harm to the health of many. Motor vehicles, roads and road users, and the physical, social, and economic environment they live in are elements of the system. Road traffic accidents killing 1.2 million a year injuring close to 50 million is upsetting, and without appropriate action, this will continue to rise. Road traffic crashes are predictable and can be prevented, and this has been achieved by adopting new approaches to road safety. The government, educators of public health, vehicle manufacturers, communities, civil society groups and individuals can do something to act it’s all a matter of now.