BMJ  2006;333:53-54 (8 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7558.53

Editorial

Death and injury on roads

Lowering the road toll will take much more than altering road users' behaviour

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

In 2002 a theme issue of the BMJ focused on the unacceptable, and largely neglected, global toll of road traffic crashes.¹ The subsequent report by the World Health Organization highlighted that low and middle income countries bear the brunt of this burden, accounting for more than 85% of the deaths and 90% of disability adjusted life years lost from road crashes.² In contrast, many high income countries (including the United Kingdom) were shown to have sharply reduced their rates of road crashes in recent decades, exemplifying what could be achieved.

It is tempting to bask in the glory of such creditable achievements, but, as always, the devil is in the detail. A heterogeneous and unplanned collection of three papers appearing in this week's BMJ^3-5 and one being published on line⁶ provides a timely reminder of the extent to which the potential to prevent road traffic injury remains a challenge, . . . [Full text of this article]

School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
(s.ameratunga@auckland.ac.nz)

School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

University of Sydney, George Institute for International Health, PO Box M201, NSW 2050, Australia

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• Sethi, D., Racioppi, F., Bertollini, R. (2007). Preventing the leading cause of death in young people in Europe. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 61: 842-843 [Full text]  
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• Henderson, R. G (2006). Death on the roads: Should we advocate daytime running lights?. BMJ 333: 199-200 [Full text]  

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