Should governments eliminate a "global scourge" and outlaw automobiles?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...902409_pf.html

Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; A09

Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to
24 around the world -- a huge, overlooked and largely preventable
public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

In a new report, the organization promoted a long list of suggestions
to developing countries, where most of the deaths and disabling
injuries occur. The improvements include safer roads and vehicles,
better urban planning, helmet laws, prosecution of speeders and
drunken drivers, better education of the driving and walking public,
and simple interventions such as putting reflective tape on backpacks.

"It is a big public health issue for kids, and we can do something
about it," said Etienne Krug, a physician who heads WHO's department
for injury and violence prevention.

As does most of the public health world, WHO eschews the term "traffic
accidents." In a statement accompanying the report, the organization's
new director-general, Margaret Chan, said that "road traffic crashes
are not 'accidents.' We need to challenge the notion that they are
unavoidable."

About 30 percent of all traffic deaths worldwide -- roughly 400,000
each year -- are of people younger than 25. Although teenage and young-
adult drivers are at greatest risk, younger age groups also have high
mortality. In 2002, traffic injuries were the third leading cause of
death for children ages 5 to 9, behind pneumonia and AIDS. About 46
percent of traffic deaths in sub-Saharan Africa occurred in that age
group that year.

"Vulnerable road users" -- pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and
public transit riders -- account for a much higher fraction of
youthful traffic fatalities in low-income countries than in rich ones.
But even within that generalization there are big differences. In
Mozambique, about 65 percent of road injuries and deaths involved
pedestrians. In Cambodia, about 75 percent were motorcyclists.

For all countries, the annual cost of road injuries in medical care,
disability and property damage is $518 billion, according to the
report. In low- and middle-income countries, the cost is larger than
the amount received from rich countries as development aid.

"It is a very big economic problem, a very big development problem. It
kills breadwinners and throws entire families into poverty," Krug
said.

WHO is asking the World Bank and other institutions making loans for
road building in the developing world to require that 10 percent of
the money go for safety features, such as guardrails, barrier-
protected lanes for bicyclists or pedestrians, speed bumps, traffic-
calming roundabouts and lighting.

The authors of the report also said towns need to plan for the
consequences of better roads. Dirt roads carrying slow traffic are
often used as playgrounds. When the roads are tarred, children need
other places to play, Krug said.

Many developing countries are addressing the problem. An African Road
Safety Conference was recently held in Ghana, with 200 people
attending. South Africa has a program called "Drive Alive," whose
activities include everything from consciousness-raising about safe
driving to distributing reflective backpacks to school children.

The report was accompanied by a second publication, which described 31
people killed or hurt in crashes around the world. It consisted of
interviews with those injured and with family members of those killed.

The collection of those stories, called "Faces Behind the Figures,"
was produced with the help of Rochelle Sobel, of Potomac, whose son
Aron, 25, was killed in a bus crash in Turkey in 1995, two weeks
before he was to graduate from medical school. She subsequently
founded the Association for Safe International Road Travel, which
promotes traffic safety.

Although heart attacks kill two to three times as many Americans
abroad as road crashes, traffic deaths are a significant cause of
mortality overseas and the biggest one for young people, said Stephen
Hargarten, a professor of emergency medicine at the Medical College of
Wisconsin.

From 2004 through 2006, there were 2,364 "unnatural" (that is, non-
disease) deaths among Americans abroad, according to data gathered by
the State Department. Motor vehicle crashes caused 740; homicides,
375; suicides, 270; drownings, 264; and miscellaneous injuries causing
the rest.

An analysis of the data, produced by Hargarten and Bella Dinh-Zarr of
Make Roads Safe, will be presented in Washington next week as part of
the U.N.-designated Global Traffic Safety Week.

No, but it's about time we eliminated the WHO (and the UN).

Mark

"Pajamas O'Donovan" wrote in message news:
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You can refinance your masked men

April 16, 2007
Reuters

Twenty-six smoking toilets, and three more on fire, put a Japanese
toilet maker in the hot seat on Monday.

Toto Ltd., known for its high-tech toilets with bidets that have blow-
drying, air purification and seat-warming functions, apologized to
consumers and offered free checks and repairs after some of its
toilets with bidets and heated seats sent up smoke and three caught
fire.

"We apologize deeply for the trouble we have caused to our customers,"
the company said in a statement.

Toto said no people were injured as a result of the problems and
damage was limited to a small part of the toilet tank.

The problem was caused as friction was generated in a part inside the
toilets, eventually producing heat. It affected some toilet models
made between March 1999 and December 2001.

"We are offering free checks and repairs if needed to anybody who owns
these models," a company spokesman said.

The company's most famous product, the combined toilet/bidet or "wash
let," is a common household article in Japan.

PJ O'Donovan wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...902409_pf.html

Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; A09

Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to
24 around the world -- a huge, overlooked and largely preventable
public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

In a new report, the organization promoted a long list of suggestions
to developing countries, where most of the deaths and disabling
injuries occur.


Road fatalities in the US are double Australia, NZ, UK and Sweden.

I suggest that you get your own house in order before dishing out advice
to the 3rd world.


The improvements include safer roads and vehicles,
better urban planning, helmet laws, prosecution of speeders and
drunken drivers, better education of the driving and walking public,
and simple interventions such as putting reflective tape on backpacks.

"It is a big public health issue for kids, and we can do something
about it," said Etienne Krug, a physician who heads WHO's department
for injury and violence prevention.

As does most of the public health world, WHO eschews the term "traffic
accidents." In a statement accompanying the report, the organization's
new director-general, Margaret Chan, said that "road traffic crashes
are not 'accidents.' We need to challenge the notion that they are
unavoidable."

About 30 percent of all traffic deaths worldwide -- roughly 400,000
each year -- are of people younger than 25. Although teenage and young-
adult drivers are at greatest risk, younger age groups also have high
mortality. In 2002, traffic injuries were the third leading cause of
death for children ages 5 to 9, behind pneumonia and AIDS. About 46
percent of traffic deaths in sub-Saharan Africa occurred in that age
group that year.

"Vulnerable road users" -- pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and
public transit riders -- account for a much higher fraction of
youthful traffic fatalities in low-income countries than in rich ones.
But even within that generalization there are big differences. In
Mozambique, about 65 percent of road injuries and deaths involved
pedestrians. In Cambodia, about 75 percent were motorcyclists.

For all countries, the annual cost of road injuries in medical care,
disability and property damage is $518 billion, according to the
report. In low- and middle-income countries, the cost is larger than
the amount received from rich countries as development aid.

"It is a very big economic problem, a very big development problem. It
kills breadwinners and throws entire families into poverty," Krug
said.

WHO is asking the World Bank and other institutions making loans for
road building in the developing world to require that 10 percent of
the money go for safety features, such as guardrails, barrier-
protected lanes for bicyclists or pedestrians, speed bumps, traffic-
calming roundabouts and lighting.

The authors of the report also said towns need to plan for the
consequences of better roads. Dirt roads carrying slow traffic are
often used as playgrounds. When the roads are tarred, children need
other places to play, Krug said.

Many developing countries are addressing the problem. An African Road
Safety Conference was recently held in Ghana, with 200 people
attending. South Africa has a program called "Drive Alive," whose
activities include everything from consciousness-raising about safe
driving to distributing reflective backpacks to school children.

The report was accompanied by a second publication, which described 31
people killed or hurt in crashes around the world. It consisted of
interviews with those injured and with family members of those killed.

The collection of those stories, called "Faces Behind the Figures,"
was produced with the help of Rochelle Sobel, of Potomac, whose son
Aron, 25, was killed in a bus crash in Turkey in 1995, two weeks
before he was to graduate from medical school. She subsequently
founded the Association for Safe International Road Travel, which
promotes traffic safety.

Although heart attacks kill two to three times as many Americans
abroad as road crashes, traffic deaths are a significant cause of
mortality overseas and the biggest one for young people, said Stephen
Hargarten, a professor of emergency medicine at the Medical College of
Wisconsin.

From 2004 through 2006, there were 2,364 "unnatural" (that is, non-
disease) deaths among Americans abroad, according to data gathered by
the State Department. Motor vehicle crashes caused 740; homicides,
375; suicides, 270; drownings, 264; and miscellaneous injuries causing
the rest.

An analysis of the data, produced by Hargarten and Bella Dinh-Zarr of
Make Roads Safe, will be presented in Washington next week as part of
the U.N.-designated Global Traffic Safety Week.

"B J Foster" wrote in message
u...
PJ O'Donovan wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...902409_pf.html

Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; A09

Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to
24 around the world -- a huge, overlooked and largely preventable
public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

In a new report, the organization promoted a long list of suggestions
to developing countries, where most of the deaths and disabling
injuries occur.
Road fatalities in the US are double Australia, NZ, UK and Sweden.


A major reason IMO for the vast difference in road fatalities and casualties
between the US and the above is that with the exception of Sweden who
changed comparitively recently these countries drive on the correct side of
the road. The driver who will normally be right handed has his/her
'active' side facing the active side of the road. It was good enough for
the Romans even if that little man Bonaparte mucked it all up.

Ladies and Gentlemen (and I use those words loosely), in a sure sign
that the Apocalypse is upon us, someone calling themself John Rennie
said this in alt.activism.death-penalty:
A major reason IMO for the vast difference in road fatalities and casualties
between the US and the above is that with the exception of Sweden who
changed comparitively recently these countries drive on the correct side of
the road.

The real reason is that driver training and testing here in the US is
for the most part non-existent. Almost anyone who has a heartbeat can
qualify for a license.

necromancer wrote on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:26:25 -0400:

n Ladies and Gentlemen (and I use those words loosely), in a
n sure sign that the Apocalypse is upon us, someone calling
n themself John Rennie said this in
alt.activism.death-penalty:
?? A major reason IMO for the vast difference in road
?? fatalities and casualties between the US and the above is
?? that with the exception of Sweden who changed
?? comparitively recently these countries drive on the
?? correct side of the road.

n The real reason is that driver training and testing here in
n the US is for the most part non-existent. Almost anyone who
n has a heartbeat can qualify for a license.

I thought it was Europeans who made generalizations about the
US. Driver's tests vary from state to state. I recall the New
York one as being reasonably tough (I failed my first try :-)

In any case it is not the business of governments to tell the
majority of voters what to do, even if certain pols sometimes
think so for a while!

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

"James Silverton" not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not a écrit dans le message
de news: ...
necromancer wrote on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:26:25 -0400:

n Ladies and Gentlemen (and I use those words loosely), in a
n sure sign that the Apocalypse is upon us, someone calling
n themself John Rennie said this in alt.activism.death-penalty:
?? A major reason IMO for the vast difference in road
?? fatalities and casualties between the US and the above is
?? that with the exception of Sweden who changed
?? comparitively recently these countries drive on the
?? correct side of the road.

n The real reason is that driver training and testing here in
n the US is for the most part non-existent. Almost anyone who
n has a heartbeat can qualify for a license.

I thought it was Europeans who made generalizations about the US. Driver's
tests vary from state to state. I recall the New York one as being
reasonably tough (I failed my first try :-)

In any case it is not the business of governments to tell the majority of
voters what to do, even if certain pols sometimes think so for a while!

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

John Rennie wrote:

"B J Foster" wrote in message
. au...


PJ O'Donovan wrote:



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...902409_pf.html

Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; A09

Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to
24 around the world -- a huge, overlooked and largely preventable
public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

In a new report, the organization promoted a long list of suggestions
to developing countries, where most of the deaths and disabling
injuries occur.


Road fatalities in the US are double Australia, NZ, UK and Sweden.




A major reason IMO for the vast difference in road fatalities and casualties
between the US and the above is that with the exception of Sweden who
changed comparitively recently these countries drive on the correct side of
the road. The driver who will normally be right handed has his/her
'active' side facing the active side of the road. It was good enough for
the Romans even if that little man Bonaparte mucked it all up.




I doubt that LH/RH drive is a factor. Canada's road-safety is right up
there with Sweden, UK, Aus and NZ.

The difference is due to a multitude of factors, most of which are due
to better government.

"B J Foster" wrote in message
...
John Rennie wrote:

"B J Foster" wrote in message
.au...

PJ O'Donovan wrote:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...902409_pf.html

Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; A09

Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to
24 around the world -- a huge, overlooked and largely preventable
public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

In a new report, the organization promoted a long list of suggestions
to developing countries, where most of the deaths and disabling
injuries occur.

Road fatalities in the US are double Australia, NZ, UK and Sweden.



A major reason IMO for the vast difference in road fatalities and
casualties between the US and the above is that with the exception of
Sweden who changed comparitively recently these countries drive on the
correct side of the road. The driver who will normally be right handed
has his/her 'active' side facing the active side of the road. It was
good enough for the Romans even if that little man Bonaparte mucked it all
up.


I doubt that LH/RH drive is a factor. Canada's road-safety is right up
there with Sweden, UK, Aus and NZ.

The difference is due to a multitude of factors, most of which are due to
better government.


Whereas France and Germany are right down there with the USA. I was
interested in necromancer's comment. Trying to pass the driving test in the
UK is quite a horrendous business but I was told that in America it was even
harder. True or False?