Mortality and Injury in Ukraine as a Result of Traffic Accidents in Measuring of Public Health: To the Analysis of Social– Legal and Criminological Problem

Abstract

The aim: Based on the statistics study of the consequences of road accidents for human potential of Ukraine and quantitative indicators of criminal offenses in the field of road safety for the period 2016-2021, as well as assessing the risks to public health of Ukrainian society to carry out socio-legal and criminological analysis of the problem and identify key areas of the national approach to the implementation of the tasks of the Second Decade of Action to ensure road safety (2021-2030). Materials and methods: The study is based on the results of a survey of ordinary citizens of Ukraine on the state of road safety on the roads of Ukraine; information posted on the WHO website for 2009-2020; statistical reports of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, specialized literature on law, etc. The methodological basis of the research is dialectical, comparative, logical, analytical, synthetic, statistical, and concrete-sociological research methods. Results: In Ukraine, among adolescents and young people at the age of 15-24, the first and main cause of death from external circumstances is death in an accident. Among young people aged 25-29 years, this is the second leading cause of death (after suicide). Every third child, being in the status of passengers, dies due to the fault of relatives and friends. One-third of all victims are pedestrians. It is estimated that Ukraine lost more than USD 308 million in GDP as a result of the deaths of road accident victims in 2020. Conclusions: In Ukraine, road accidents are a significant cause of death and disability due to external circumstances, and therefore pose a threat to the public health of the population. The death and disability of people as a result of road accidents cause huge material and human losses to Ukraine. An unsatisfactory state of legal awareness of Ukrainian citizens is a direct threat to public health and a source of the perpetuation of the generally unfavorable trend with the level of criminally punished violations of traffic rules. An important task of the Ukrainian state is to create a service of emergency specialized care according to world standards of so-called disaster medicine.

Systematic review of health and disease in Ukrainian children highlights poor child health and challenges for those treating refugees

“…A 2021 paper said that traffic accidents were common in Ukraine 91 and were the leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults aged 15–24 years 8 …”

“…After duplicates were removed, the titles and abstracts of 1,628 reports were reviewed by one of the authors (JFL), and 131 met the eligibility criteria (Figure 1). The current review was primarily based on 107 full papers, 2‐108 but, due to the scarcity of data, we also chose to cite five relevant abstracts 109‐113 for a more complete picture of child health in Ukraine. Our literature search was limited to papers published in English.…”

“…65 A 2021 paper said that traffic accidents were common in Ukraine 91 and were the leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults aged 15-24 years. 8 One study that compared 60 countries found that Ukraine had the eighth highest rate for adult and child deaths per capita from unintentional drowning. 69…”

Review did not paint an accurate picture of child health in Ukraine

“…6 When they stated that children in Ukraine had suffered from unbalanced nutrition before the war, they did not mention that the diet in many other developed countries was also generally unbalanced. 7 The authors also quoted data from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for Ukrainian women of reproductive age who smoked in 2008-2010 but did not mention that there were higher levels in countries like Russia, Turkey and Poland. 8 The authors also stated that a low percentage of Ukrainian parents were confident in childhood vaccinations, but did not mention that confidence rates were even lower in other European countries.…”

Implementation in Ukraine of the state policy to reduce the severity of the consequences of road accidents

“…1 Примітка. Стаття підготовлена на виконання теми фундаментального наукового дослідження НДІ ВПЗ «Стратегія запобігання правопорушенням у сфері дорожнього руху та експлуатації транспорту в Україні» номер державної реєстрації 0120U10561.…”