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Useful and reliable road crash statistics in Argentina : An unaccomplished challenge - main reasons and feasible actions Zini, Gustavo H

By: Publication details: Road safety on four continents: Warsaw, Poland 5-7 October 2005. Paper, 2005Description: 12 sSubject(s): Bibl.nr: VTI 2005.0795Location: Abstract: Every time there is greater concern about the harsh burden of road crashes. Moreover, 90% of road fatalities take place in low-income or middle-income countries where the situation is undoubtedly going to get worse in the short-term [WHO, 2004]. Therefore, and considering that it can be argued that in high-income countries the situation has improved in the past decades, the key issues of this Conference arise: which first world answers fit third world problems?; and, how can their implementation be accelerated?In these regards, the following aspects have to be taken into consideration: there are great social, economic and structural differences among the many countries considered third world, much greater than the ones that may arise between first world nations. For example, it can be argued that key road safety issues in China are definitely different from those in Argentina or Brazil, whereas key road safety issues in Sweden are in a general way similar to the ones in Italy or France. On the other hand, most low-income and middle-income countries face in common several extremely important issues alongside traffic injuries -namely terrifying infant mortality rates and nutrition deficits; or very high proportions of population without proper access to running water, medical services, habitation or education-. When these facts are pondered it can be stated that even if the many economic, social and structural barriers to successfully implement useful road safety policies could be sorted out, every action aiming at reducing traffic victims must be both carefully evaluated and managed to attain the maximum efficiency. In this way, higher benefits will be obtained out of very scarce resources. Thus, if the social and economic consequences of road crashes in the third world are to be minimized, a thorough diagnosis of each particular situation must be done, using hard facts sustained by reliable statistics that will allow both the proper establishment of the priorities and the assessment of the effectiveness of every selected measure. Finally, considering the aspects discussed above, apart from responding "which first world answers fit third world problems?", two fundamental issues must be deemed: "which are the priorities for those answers for each nation?", and "has the first measure been successfully managed so as to step on to the next action within the strategic plan?". These aspects depend closely on the availability of reliable and periodic road crash data, and will play a fundamental role in the acceleration of the solution to the catastrophe of traffic crashes in the third world by implementing first world evaluated good practices. This paper proposes a general approach to the reasons that explain why Argentina has not been able neither to generate an adequate road crash data registering method nor to organize a useful and reliable road crash database. Additionally, some feasible actions that would allow reverting the situation in the short and medium term will be discussed.
Item type: Reports, conferences, monographs
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Every time there is greater concern about the harsh burden of road crashes. Moreover, 90% of road fatalities take place in low-income or middle-income countries where the situation is undoubtedly going to get worse in the short-term [WHO, 2004]. Therefore, and considering that it can be argued that in high-income countries the situation has improved in the past decades, the key issues of this Conference arise: which first world answers fit third world problems?; and, how can their implementation be accelerated?In these regards, the following aspects have to be taken into consideration: there are great social, economic and structural differences among the many countries considered third world, much greater than the ones that may arise between first world nations. For example, it can be argued that key road safety issues in China are definitely different from those in Argentina or Brazil, whereas key road safety issues in Sweden are in a general way similar to the ones in Italy or France. On the other hand, most low-income and middle-income countries face in common several extremely important issues alongside traffic injuries -namely terrifying infant mortality rates and nutrition deficits; or very high proportions of population without proper access to running water, medical services, habitation or education-. When these facts are pondered it can be stated that even if the many economic, social and structural barriers to successfully implement useful road safety policies could be sorted out, every action aiming at reducing traffic victims must be both carefully evaluated and managed to attain the maximum efficiency. In this way, higher benefits will be obtained out of very scarce resources. Thus, if the social and economic consequences of road crashes in the third world are to be minimized, a thorough diagnosis of each particular situation must be done, using hard facts sustained by reliable statistics that will allow both the proper establishment of the priorities and the assessment of the effectiveness of every selected measure. Finally, considering the aspects discussed above, apart from responding "which first world answers fit third world problems?", two fundamental issues must be deemed: "which are the priorities for those answers for each nation?", and "has the first measure been successfully managed so as to step on to the next action within the strategic plan?". These aspects depend closely on the availability of reliable and periodic road crash data, and will play a fundamental role in the acceleration of the solution to the catastrophe of traffic crashes in the third world by implementing first world evaluated good practices. This paper proposes a general approach to the reasons that explain why Argentina has not been able neither to generate an adequate road crash data registering method nor to organize a useful and reliable road crash database. Additionally, some feasible actions that would allow reverting the situation in the short and medium term will be discussed.

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