Road traffic injury prevention

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7444.846

BMJ 2004;328:846 (10 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7444.846

Editorial

Road traffic injury prevention

WHO report advocates input from public health and a systemsapproach

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

"A 63-year-old woman was in critical condition last night afterbeing struck by a car... as she crossed Sherbrooke St E shortlyafter 4 pm... It appears the pedestrian and motorist both hada green light, said Constable Lapointe. The driver was turningleft when she struck the pedestrian. Police did not believealcohol or excessive speed were factors in the accident."

Take this all too common news item and multiply by some largenumber and you have the daily world total of pedestrian injuriesor deaths. Add to this car occupants and bicyclists and youreach the grand total of road traffic deaths, which accountsfor 20% of all injury deaths.

Now, after years of preoccupation with other issues, the WorldHealth Organization (with the World Bank) has turned its attentionto what is arguably the largest and most preventable of allmodern epidemics—road crashes.¹ It matters greatly that. . . [Full text of this article]

Barry Pless, editor, Injury Prevention

Montreal Children's Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada H3H 1P3 (barry.pless{at}mcgill.ca)

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