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Wed, 26 Aug 2009
A recent report has named the Cook Islands as having the second deadliest roads in the world.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a global status report on road safety where 178 countries were surveyed. The statistics were compiled and compared per capita.
The Cook Islands is recorded to have the second highest road fatalities with 45 deaths per 100,000 people. The road toll is only beaten by Eritrea. With a population of five million, the small African nation had 48 deaths per 100,000 people.
Five people died in road accidents in the Cook Islands during 2007, the year the survey was taken. According to statistics provided by the Road Safety Council, six people have already been killed this year with a total of 39 deaths since 2000.
If numbers were solely calculated on Rarotonga’s population this year, then the island would be the world leader in road fatalities with 60 deaths per 100,000 people.
WHO says approximately 1.3 million people die each year on roads throughout the world and between 20 and 50 million sustain non-fatal injuries.
“The results show that road traffic injuries remain an important public health problem, particularly for low-income and middle-income countries,” WHO says.“Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists make up almost half of those killed on the roads, highlighting the need for these road users to be given more attention in road safety programmes.”
However, Road Safety Council spokesman Don Silk says perhaps it is time to revisit the helmet issue.
“Since the year 2000 there have been 38 people killed on Rarotonga’s roads, of which 32 were motor cyclists,” Silk says.
“None of these 32 was wearing a safety helmet. Twenty-nine of them died of broken skulls and other head injuries and an unknown number of other crash victims suffered permanent brain damage.
“Many of these deaths and injuries could have been saved by the wearing of safety helmets.”
Silk says the campaign in 2007 to protest against helmets being made mandatory was based on claims that drink driving and speed were the cause of the deaths.
“But in spite of a greatly increased police presence on our roads and increased penalties, the death toll seems to be increasing,” he says. “In July 2009 a total of 597 tickets were issued for traffic offences, a number unheard of a year ago. How much more police presence is needed before we become a virtual police state?”
The WHO report has Egypt at third with 40.1 and Libya in fourth position at 40.5 deaths per 100,000. The survey not only recorded the fatality rate but also compiled statistics which include comparing transport legislation, seatbelt and speed policies as well as health care and how drink-driving is defined. ….Article from Cook Islands News
The full report can be viewed on the WHO website: http://www.who.int/en/
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