1000 young people are killed every day in road crashes says WHO
Road deaths are becoming the new disease of the global young and poor warns the Make Roads Safe campaign today at the start of the first ever UN Global Road Safety Week in London (23).
Globally road crashes are now the leading cause of death for young people aged 10-25, and over a thousand young people are killed on the roads every day according to the WHO. In the UK, 70 children – the equivalent of two full classrooms - are still being killed or seriously injured every week.
Each year road traffic crashes kill 1.2 million people, more than 90% of whom come from low and middle income countries. Worst affected are the poor and vulnerable road users. In the UK, for example, children in deprived areas are three times more likely to be hit by a motor vehicle.
The warning came as Michael Schumacher, seven times world champion and member of the Commission for Global Road Safety, joined UK road safety organisations to launch the Make Roads Safe campaign’s global petition which is calling for a UN conference on global road safety, a demand endorsed in a video statement by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Michael Schumacher said:
“A thousand young people under the age of 25 die every day on the roads. Road crashes kill on the scale of Malaria or Tuberculosis, yet the international community has not woken up to this horrific waste of life. That is why I strongly support the Make Roads Safe campaign and the proposal that the United Nations organise a first ever UN ministerial conference to tackle this preventable loss of life”.
In a video statement recorded for UN Global Road Safety Week, Prime Minister Tony Blair said:
“Every minute of every day a child is killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads. Road crashes are the second leading cause of death for young men after HIV/AIDS, and in some African countries more than 70% of those killed on the roads are young breadwinners. It is becoming clear that road injury has a serious impact on the wider development goals we are all trying to achieve. So I commend the proposal that the UN should organise a global Ministerial meeting on road safety”.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Chairman of the Commission for Global Road Safety and the Make Roads Safe campaign, said:
“There is a growing recognition that the international community must focus on this carnage on the world’s roads. As the United Nations devotes a special Week to road safety for the first time, we are calling for a more determined response to this growing crisis. The road safety community in the UK is united behind the call for a UN global ministerial conference to give urgently needed direction to road injury prevention.”
At the UK launch of the UN Global Road Safety Week the terrible facts about road injuries and young people are revealed*:
- Road crashes are now the leading cause of death worldwide for 10-25 year olds;
- 1000 young people aged under 25 die on the world’s roads every day;
- Worldwide, a child aged under 15 is killed or seriously injured every minute of every day;
- 96% of child road deaths occur in developing countries. By 2015 road crashes will be the main cause of death and disability for children aged 5-14 in developing countries – above HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis;
- In the UK, 70 children – the equivalent of two full classrooms - are still being killed or seriously injured every week;
- Half of all children killed or seriously injured on the roads in England come from deprived areas;
- Children in deprived areas of the UK are three times more likely to be hit by a car;
- UK children in Social Class V are five times more likely to die as pedestrians in a road crash than children from Social Class 1.
This week the international Make Roads Safe campaign officially launches a petition calling for the UN to act on road deaths, and aims to secure at least 1.2 million signatures – the number of people killed on the roads each year – by the time the UN General Assembly debates road safety in November. ENDS
Note to Editors:
1. Make Roads Safe photo call: 500 children die every day on the roads
Michael Schumacher will launch UN Global Road Safety Week with schoolchildren representing the 500 children killed every day on the world’s roads at the Clive Steps, Horseguards Road, London SW1 at 10.00am on Monday 23rd April 2007
2. Rally for Safer Roads – United Nations Global Road Safety Week
To mark the start of the first UN Global Road Safety Week, Michael Schumacher will join former NATO chief Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Chairman of the international Commission for Global Road Safety; Max Mosley, President of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA); and UK Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman MP at a Rally for Safer Roads at One Great George Street, Westminster from 11am, Monday 23 April 2007.
3. UK Make Roads Safe coalition
The UK supporters of the international Make Roads Safe campaign include: British Red Cross, BRAKE, FIA Foundation, Living Streets, PACTS, RAC Foundation, ROADSAFE, RoSPA, Transaid and UK Youth.
4. *Road injury statistics sources: World Health Organisation; UK Department for Transport; Institute for Public Policy Research.
For more information, for media accreditation to above events, interview requests; and for Video News Release footage from India, Africa, Middle East, Vietnam and VNR comment footage from Tony Blair MP, Prime Minister; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; racing driver Lewis Hamilton and more…
contact the Make Roads Safe media team:
Edmund King, RAC Foundation on 020 747 3485 or 07850 786 960
Sheila Rainger, RAC Foundation 0207 747 3486 or 07711 776448
Avi Silverman, FIA Foundation on 0207 747 5181 or 07967 229374
Saul Billingsley, FIA Foundation on 0207 747 5180 or 0780 398 7250