Car Accidents Are a Leading Global Killer

December 17, 2018

Car accidents aren’t only a major safety concern for people in Pennsylvania. Around the world, traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for children and young people between the ages of 5 and 29, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO). Not only do car crashes disproportionately take the lives of young people, they are the eighth leading overall cause of death on a global level. The WHO released these statistics as part of its 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety, which noted that 1.35 million people were killed in 2016 in traffic incidents, outstripping the death tolls associated with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The report noted that some progress has been made around the world to address roadway safety issues but noted that the United Nations was unlikely to achieve its goal of cutting traffic accident deaths in half between 2016 and 2020. The number of deaths is continuing to grow each year, but the death rate in relation to the overall world population has remained relatively stable. That rate has hovered around 18 per 100,000 people for 15 years.

Like other public health risks, the extent to which a person is likely to be affected reflects their surrounding socioeconomic conditions. People in low-income countries are three times more likely to die in a crash than those in high-income countries. The WHO report noted that low-income countries own only around 1 percent of the world’s motor vehicles, but experience 13 percent of the world’s traffic fatalities.

Car accidents can lead to devastating injuries and lifelong disabilities. In many cases, these crashes are caused by negligent or dangerous drivers. A personal injury lawyer might help people injured in a collision through no fault of their own to seek compensation for their damages, including medical bills and lost wages.

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