Road fatalities in MENA region expected to increase by 67.5% between 2000 and 2020

Road fatalities in high income countries are expected to fall by 27.8% as compared to countries with lower incomes such as those in the MENA and S. Asia region.

On a worldwide basis, road fatalities are expected to increase 66% between 2000 & 2020 with strong increases in the developing world and decreases in high-income countries. Currently, Asia has the highest percentage of worldwide traffic fatalities with the strongest increases projected as compared to the rest of the world according to a leading expert on the road industry who addressed the conference sessions organized in parallel with ROADEX 2006, the region's largest road industry event.

'If we look at the road safety situation in terms of fatalities as a ratio to kilometers traveled, the developed countries have better statistics, due to developed infrastructure, perhaps better enforcement and more modern vehicles,' said Rik Nuyttens from 3M.

'The main message here is that a developed road infrastructure is needed to have a good road safety record and high quality signing is a key part of that.'

Road fatalities in Latin America & The Caribbean will register a 48% growth in 2020 as compared to 2000 whereas road deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa will rise 79% in the same period according to Nuyttens.

Figures release by the International Road Federation show that road deaths in Gulf countries cost between 1.5% and 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the UAE, road deaths cost 1.6% of the GDP, whereas in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait this figure is 2.4% and 1.8% respectively. As compared to these figures, the impact of road deaths on GDP is less than 0.75% in countries like the US, the UK, France and Germany.

'Road deaths generally happen to people in their early 20s with the whole of their productive life ahead of them. Assuming a probable further life expectancy of 40 years and lost contribution to society and the economy, the impact of deaths thanks to road accidents is huge and this has proved to be a very significant burden on the economies of the region,' said Wim Westerhuis, High Representative, International Road Federation (IRF).