Latin America, Caribbean, road safety concern

There is concern over road safety for Latin America and the Caribbean.
By MJ Woof September 12, 2024 Read time: 1 min
Latin America and the Caribbean nations need to address road safety to cut the annual death toll, with Mexico City being one of the key cities with a particularly poor record for road safety - image courtesy of © Dreamshot| Dreamstime.com

Poor road safety is a major concern for many of the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean. Data from the United Nations shows the scale of the problem. Annual road deaths for Latin America and the Caribbean countries total over 110,000. In addition, more than 5,000,000,000 people suffer injuries arising from road crashes.  

The United Nations introduced a target of halving road deaths between 2020 and 2030. But the Caribbean and Latin American nations have fallen behind schedule in achieving this target. More work is needed to boost road safety, cutting road deaths and injuries.

Driving under the influence (DUI) of drink or drugs and speeding are the key causes of crashes for Latin America and the Caribbean. Distracted driving is another major issue. 

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity dedicated to preventing the more than 3,500 road deaths that occur every day worldwide. And according data from iRAP, global road death and injuries cost US$3.6 trillion annually, equivalent to more than 3% of global GDP.

Road Markings, Barriers & Workzone Protection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US road safety record
    April 26, 2012
    The latest official statistics from the US on road accidents show that fatality levels on the nation's roads have dropped to the lowest figures seen for more than six decades. The information was released by US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, revealing that highway deaths fell to 32,885 for 2010, the lowest level since 1949.
    Read More
  • Road safety challenge for Europe
    June 25, 2012
    The latest official figures on road safety in Europe are giving cause for concern, with data showing that casualty reduction has slowed. EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas recently announced disappointing progress in casualty reduction on Europe's roads. The joint European police association, TISPOL, has added that it is also concerned that improvements in cutting fatalities on Europe’s roads significantly slowed in 2011. The overall figure shows a reduction of just 2% in the total number of people kille
    Read More
  • Barriers to safety
    April 1, 2021
    All vehicle restraint devices on European roads are – or should be - certified according to the European impact standard EN 1317, implying conformity. But it doesn’t necessarily ensure that the crash barrier will perform its main aim of saving the vehicle occupants’ lives.
    Read More
  • Tackling India’s road safety will reduce crash rate
    February 19, 2013
    India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ
    Read More

Highlighted Content