Building safer roads in developing countries

The Development Assistance Committee of the Paris-based OECD, a group of rich countries, spends about €2.7 billion a year through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank building roads in developing countries. But not enough of this money takes into account road safety - a striking omission given the vast human and financial cost of road accidents in poor countries.

It is estimated that road traffic injuries cost low- and middle-income countries between 1% and 2% of their gross national product - more than they receive in development aid.

Out of the global total of 1.2 million deaths in traffic accidents each year, more than 85% are in low- and middle-income countries. Indeed, the toll of deaths from road-traffic accidents is comparable to the impact of malaria and tuberculosis. While these infectious diseases are flagged up in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, road safety is not mentioned.

Big donors are, however, waking up to the need to pay attention to road safety. A report by the World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) on road safety published in 2004 set out recommendations for governments, for non-governmental organisations and for donors.

In March, the UN General Assembly will debate road safety for the first time and is expected to agree to hold a global conference on road safety (hosted by Russia) this year or next.

The European Commission and a handful of EU member states are supporting the Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy (SSATP), a partnership with African countries and regional economic communities. The SSATP includes collecting data on road safety as a first step to making improvements to road safety.

Many of the measures that would reduce traffic accidents are out of the control of donors such as the EU. The enforcement of alcohol limits and the use of seat belts would have a dramatic effect, as would improvements to the standards of vehicles. But good road design and traffic management are easier for donors to influence. The provision of a hard shoulder to a motorway helps reduce accidents. In the absence of a hard shoulder, when a truck breaks down it is often left unlit on an unlit road, for traffic behind to pile into it. In urban areas, the separation of pedestrians and traffic can have a big effect on reducing injuries. Pedestrian bridges, cycle tracks and protective railings are recommended.

The Commission is pressing for the level of spending on a road project that is devoted to design to be increased from the current 2% to 4%.

The FIA Foundation, a charity that promotes road safety and sustainable mobility, would like to see 10% of infrastructure spending dedicated to road-safety improvements, including safety audits, education schemes and improvements to the road itself. This goal is already a World Bank recommendation, although the international community has been slow to respond.

Saul Billingsley at the FIA Foundation suggests that road safety has been a low priority because building infrastructure has been "a Cinderella area" within development policy. In the 1990s, 10% of development aid was spent on building roads, compared to 20% a decade earlier. Now that development spending on roads is rising again, some attention to safety measures could have an increased effect. Indeed, if safety is not improved, then the effect of developing countries having more roads and more cars will be to increase the toll of deaths and injuries.

The Development Assistance Committee of the Paris-based OECD, a group of rich countries, spends about €2.7 billion a year through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank building roads in developing countries. But not enough of this money takes into account road safety - a striking omission given the vast human and financial cost of road accidents in poor countries.