• Injury and violence
• Road traffic injuries
• Child injuries and violence
• Violence
• Emergency medical services
• Workplace injuries

Injury and violence

This paper published by the Global Road Safety Partnership studies the effects that fatal and serious road crashes have on low income households in Bangladesh and Bangalore, India. The study is based on household surveys in urban and rural areas. It shows that poor people reported a higher death rate due to road traffic accidents in Bangalore (both urban and rural households) and Bangladesh rural households. Conversely for serious crashes, the non-poor reported a higher injury rate in both countries. Adult males were the most common road fatality and although they were not often the head of household, they did provide the majority of the household income.

The report also examines the impact that fatal and serious road crashes have on the victims’ households including direct and indirect costs as well as the coping strategy adopted and the consequences. In most cases the poor were found to spend a much greater proportion of their income on funeral and/or medical costs than the non-poor. The paper concludes that whilst national and international priority is focused on reducing poverty, road crashes appear to be making this task more difficult as many non-poor households become poor after a road crash. Priority needs to be given to helping traffic victims recover physically and their families financially. [adapted from author]

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