Road accidents: huge costs for poor countries

Road accidents cost 65 billion Dollars (57 billion euros) per year to the poorest countries, said Monday in Madrid vice-president of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, Pamela Cox.

•     The cost of these disasters is too high for developing countries of the planet, she said at the inauguration of the first meeting of South America and the Caribbean on road safety.
  
      The human, social and economic costs are "approximately" 1% of GDP in low income countries and 1.5% of GDP in middle-income countries in South America and the Caribbean, she said.
  
      Both regions have the highest rate of death in road accidents, with 26.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure which could rise to 31 per 100,000 in 2020, according to Ms. Cox.
  
      "We need to compare these figures with 5 deaths per 100,000 people, or even less, of the safest countries in the world, such as New Zealand, Sweden and France," she added.
  
      Pamela Cox, who until Tuesday participates in these meetings on road safety, has recommended the introduction of government campaigns and the construction of safer roadways to fight against this scourge.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. Oudina