Road safety in low income countries：relevance of experience from high income countries

Objective:To review the state of the art on important issues concerning road safety in less motorized countries(LMC).Methods:International literature and experiences were analysed to focus on the countermeasures that would be most effective in LMCs.Results:Road safety policies in hight motorized countries(HMC)have evolved over the last fifty years with a great deal of input from research and academicsituations and problems in those countries.Even the standards instituted for vehicles are based on the traffic patterns and types of crashes that are more prevalent in those societies.We have to accept the fact that safety has to be promoted in LMCs within the existing conditions.These include low per-capita incomes,presence of mixed traffic,low capacity for capital intensive infrastructure,and different law enforcenent capabilities.Pedestrians,bicyclists and motorized two-wheeler riders will remain dominant on LMC roads for many decades.When the HMC policies and designs are transferred to societies which have much lower per capita incomes,then these policies and designs have poor success rates.While a few LMCs can experience high growth rates for some periods,most of the other countries will continue to function as LMCs for quite some time to come.Conclusions:A much stronger effort at research,development and innovation is needed in LMCs.Each coutry must establish a department f road safety with adequate funds and staffed by specially trained professionals.International cooperation in the area of road safety should focus on exchange of scientific principles.experiences of successes and failures,and in scientific training of a large nuber of professionals in the LMCs.