Why do Road Accidents kill more in poorer countries?

Over 1 million people annually lose their lives in road accidents with another 20-50 million road users who are injured annually with a majority of them falling under the age bracket of 5-29 years, the future leaders.

Surprisingly, the concentration of road accidents is higher in low to medium income countries as compared to high-income countries.

Though there are many factors at play for such a stark difference between low and high-income countries, it all comes down to a balance of traffic education and enforcement.

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest road accident mortality rates where 25 people lose their life a day but with extensive educational campaigns in multiple languages, coupled with heavy fines and strict enforcement using state of the art equipment, they have managed to bring the figure down to 19 mortalities per day in 2017 and a little below 17 mortalities per day in 2018.

Road accidents not only cause losses to individuals but the state as well. A global average is said to be between 2-3% of the GDP in terms of tertiary care, disability and death allowances and lost productivity.

[bs-quote quote=”Pakistan nearly loses 9 Billion USD annually to road accidents and to put this figure into perspective, Pakistan borrowed 6 Billion USD from IMF for 39 months – While it loses 9 billion in just 12 months.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Lucman Khan”][/bs-quote]

The situation is bound to exacerbate as the population grows and more cars hit the streets.
To curb the menace, an extensive educational campaign in all major regional languages needs to be conducted which explains the practical benefits of traffic laws such as usage of seatbelts and reasons behind prohibition of certain activities on-road such as cell phone usage, overspeeding, haphazard overtaking, etc.

There have been several campaigns in the past held by government entities or CSR activities conducted by companies but with little to no impact as they never connect to the average person and require an effort to understand which people may be reluctant to put.

A campaign designed with human psychology in mind that caters to short attention spans and graphics that helps a person visualize and relate to the activity will be impactful.

For example, a campaign telling you to buckle up will not be as impactful as one that tells you how a seat belt helps you prevent being ejected during a crash and reduces the risk of death by 45% and cut the risk of serious injury by 50%.
Or perhaps how keeping your foot on the dashboard could not only dislocate your leg and permanently damage your spinal cord but send your knee knocking your eye instead of plain “keeping your foot on the dashboard could be hazardous in case of accident”

[bs-quote quote=”Unless one can relate, they will use their bias to feel comfortable that such practices do not apply to them. Drivers tend to have a bias of being better than others on the road.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Lucman Khan”][/bs-quote]

As the campaign matures, enforcement activities can be rolled out in phases with adequate road signs to remind the driver that they are in ATVAM zones (Automatic Traffic Violation Administering and Monitoring zone).

With AI-based enforcement, road users will be more vigilant and know that the only reason they will receive a traffic violation is if they violate the law and not the prevalent mindset that they were singled out by traffic police officials for bribery or similar accusations.

Although ATVAM technology may come with a steep price tag, there are solutions such as Hazen.AI that could integrate into existing CCTV cameras and produce just as accurate results.

Entering a new decade with problems from the last century while all other countries work on plans to eliminate road casualties by 2030 and 2050 will never allow us to compete with other nations.

[bs-quote quote=”A collective effort needs to be made by each one of us. We need to lead by example and to put an end to this menace and work towards #SaferCarsPakistan.” style=”style-17″ align=”center” color=”#dd0000″ author_name=”Lucman Khan”][/bs-quote]

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