Press Release

8 June 2006

'Road deaths and injuries shatter lives'

RoadPeace, on behalf of all road crash victims, welcomes today's launch of two special reports on this 'global epidemic'

Two reports, which highlight the urgent need to address the continuing carnage on the world's roads are being launched today:

• The Robertson Report, by the Commission for Global Road Safety
• The 'Vision Zero' Report by Prof. John Whitelegg, resulting from a DfT project

The Robertson Report calls for world leaders to do more to tackle this crisis, which jeopardises key goals on health and poverty, and is forecast to double by 2020. It calls in particular for global road safety to be included on the agenda of a future G8 summit and for devoting far greater resources to it.

The Report by Prof Whitelegg on 'Vision Zero' gives evidence of wide support for 'vision zero', namely for the approach that our long-term vision should be to have no greater risks, and no greater risk acceptance, on the roads than the rail or air.

RoadPeace has been campaigning for years, including under the umbrella of the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims (FEVR) - at UN working parties and since 2004 at the WHO Global Collaboration Forum - for greater awareness of the global scale of road death and injury, the inadequate response to it, and the lack of justice for road crash victims and their families.

RoadPeace Director Amy Aeron-Thomas, said: "The link between road crashes and poverty was shown in a study I conducted in Bangladesh." and "The investigation of road crashes is crucial - we need to investigate how they could have been prevented, not just what caused them. And a road death must not be valued less than a rail death in respect of prevention - in Sweden the cost is equal, unlike the UK."

Brigitte Chaudhry, President of RoadPeace and FEVR said: "Families who suffer a sudden violent death or life changing injury through a road crash are devastated forever, yet the long-term, cumulative toll is never acknowledged. The lack of justice adds additional wounds, as our 1997 European study into the impact of road death and injury on the quality of life of families had clearly shown."

Contacts: Amy Aeron-Thomas 07905 847 917 Rita Taylor 01963 359 044
RoadPeace office 020 8838 5102 Brigitte Chaudhry 020 8964 1800

Notes to editors:

Scale of road death and injury
Worldwide, over 3,000 people are killed and 100,000 injured EVERY DAY. The price in terms of human loss, grief and care, borne by families, is immeasurable - the suffering does not end after a year - it is long time and often forever. All those bereaved and injured are added to the millions upon million already affected. but there is little recognition of this cumulative toll.

Their pain is aggravated by societies' and governments' inappropriate response to road crashes, which are seen as "accidents" and not preventable tragedies. This leads to road victims being denied the same support offered to other victims of crime or disease.

RoadPeace is the UK's charity representing the interests of road crash victims, it works for road crash victims worldwide under the umbrella of the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims, FEVR, which has UN consultative status and is represented on the World Health Organisation Road Safety Collaboration Forum.

More facts

Four times more people are killed in road crashes than in wars.

War on the Roads: casualty statistics

In London

• 300 lives lost every year
• 2 in every 5 deaths is a pedestrian
• One child is killed every two weeks
• Motorcycle fatalities are increasing
• Target is 40% reduction in KSI

In the UK

• 10 people are killed every day
• Most victims are young men
• Road crashes are the leading cause of death/disability for those under 40.
• Poor children are five times more likely to be killed or injured than better off children
• There is a 1 in 200 chance of dying in a road crash
• Pedestrians and cyclists account for 1 in 3 road deaths
• Half of all 'accidental child deaths' occur on the road
• A 20 mph limit in residential areas would reduce child road deaths and serious injuries by 67%!
• Over half of road safety expenditure is for hospital treatment of casualties

In Europe

• 40,000 road deaths occur each year (15 EUC)
• Road crashes are leading cause of death and hospital admission for those under the age of 45.
• 25% of bereaved parents remain suicidal after 3 years

Across the World

• Over 1 million road deaths each year
• Over 10 million people permanently disabled
• Over 3000 killed EVERY day - equivalent to a daily 9/11 tragedy
• 70% of road deaths occur to those under 45 years old.
• Road traffic injury is second leading cause of ill health and premature death of young men (15-44 years), after HIV/AIDS.
• For every road death, 4 people are permanently disabled, 30 require emergency room treatment and 10 are hospitalised