Road Traffic Injuries: Social Change and Development

Abstract

In the course of the twentieth century road traffic injuries (RTIs) became a major public health burden. RTI deaths first increased in high-income countries and declined after the 1970s, and they soared in low-and middle-income countries from the 1980s onwards. As motorisation took off in North America and then spread to Europe and to the rest of the world discussions on RTIs have reflected and influenced international interpretations of the costs and benefits of 'development', as conventionally understood. Using discourse analysis, this paper explores how RTIs have been constructed in ways that have served regional and global development agendas and how 'development' has been (re-)negotiated through the discourse of RTIs and vice versa. For this purpose, this paper analyses a selection of key publications of organisations in charge of international health or transport and places them in the context of (a) the surrounding scientific discussion of the period and (b) of relevant data regarding RTI mortality, development funding, and road and other transport infrastructure. Findings suggest that constructions of RTIs have shifted from being a necessary price to be paid for development to being a sign of development at an early stage or of an insufficiently coordinated development. In recent years, RTI discussions have raised questions about development being misdirected and in need of fundamental rethinking. At present, discussions are believed to be at a crossroads between different evaluations of developmental conceptualisations for the future.

Injury surveillance in a rural sub-Saharan setting: Results from a surveillance initiative in Nzega District, Tanzania

“…This figure is in the same league as tuberculosis, which accounted for 1.3 million deaths globally in 2012 as reported by the WHO (Borowy 2013;WHO, 2013). Moreover, in LMICs, deaths from RTIs are actually increasing, especially among pedestrians and motorcyclists.…”

Years of Life Lost due to early death from road traffic injuries in Mazandaran province

“…According to the fact that deaths from accidents occur in the early and middle age of an individual, the impact of such kind of mortality on life expectancy and economic burden caused by it is inevitable (3,4) . Annually, 1.2 million people lose their lives due to traffic accidents.…”

The Prevalence of Alcohol Use among Road Users and Its Impact on Traffic Crash Severity in Ghana

“…Research has shown a positive association between increased income and the frequency of alcohol consumption, particularly among women (McKee et al, 2000;Michalak, Trocki, & Bond, 2007;WHO, 2014). Further, increased motorisation increases everyone's exposure to road traffic crashes (Borowy, 2013;Sebego et al, 2014;Zhang, Tsimhoni, Sivak, & Flannagan, 2010). Research into alcohol-impaired driving, riding and walking is therefore necessary to provide empirical information to guide in formulating road safety education, policies and interventions to forestall a potential upsurge of alcoholimpaired driving, riding and walking that might arise as Ghana journeys through the trajectory of fast economic development.…”

“…Ghana has been recently classified as a Lower Middle Income Country (WHO, 2014) and there is an expectation that motorisation will continue to increase, along with lifestyle changes favouring an increase in the use of alcohol (Borowy, 2013).…”

“…The report indicates that the prevalence of abject poverty has declined from 16.5% in 2005/06 to 8.4% in 2013/14 in Ghana. All things being equal, economic empowerment will increase the acquisition of motor vehicles and changes in lifestyles like alcohol consumption (Borowy, 2013;Chongsuvivatwong, 1999;WHO, 2014). People who were within the lower income group and could not afford frequent purchase of alcohol may now be able to buy more alcohol regularly.…”