A French study has found Africa's traffic death rate is higher than in any other region of the world, yet research into improving road safety is lacking.
Africa's road traffic injury mortality rate is 28.3 per 100,000 of the population when corrected for underreporting, compared with 11 per 100,000 in Europe.
But a study by Emmanuel Lagarde of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Bordeaux found while many studies concerning road injury prevention have been conducted in developed nations, surveillance and research efforts must be increased in developing countries to determine how to take regional specificities into account.
The research appears in the journal PLoS Medicine.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
Related stories:
Moose killing riles Michigan town
Some residents of the town of Ishpeming, Mich., are furious at police officers and a state biologist who killed a female moose that wandered into town, leaving its twin calves to fend for themselves during the winter.
Live to run, run to work: For some commuters, the rubber that meets the road is the soles of their running shoes
Like so many groggy morning commuters, Debra Moss likes to begin her day at a Starbucks. Got to get that energy boost for the slog into work, after all.
Should companies with unhealthy products be regulated to protect health?
Should businesses that sell products which are responsible for a huge numbers of deaths, illness and injury, such as tobacco and junk food, be held accountable and made to improve public health? Two experts debate the issue on bmj.com today.
Counterintuitive physics may help everyone drive home quicker
If you're trying to drive to a destination as quickly as possible, you might think that knowing the traffic conditions would help you choose the quickest route for yourself. Traffic reports and new GPS technologies that provide traffic data are based on this assumption – but scientists have found that knowing this information may do more harm than good.
Compared to all commercial carriers, log truckers have better safety record
A report on the log truck industry just delivered to the state legislature indicates that the number of traffic accidents involving log trucks declined 11 percent while collisions for all commercial trucks increased by 15 percent in Washington between 2004 and 2006.
Invention could help reduce highway repairs
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ohio University has licensed a new device that tests the durability of highway asphalt to an Athens, Ohio-based company founded by the engineering professor who invented the technology.
Speed cameras do reduce accidents, say researchers
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Liverpool have developed an accident prediction model which proves that speed cameras are effective in reducing the number of road traffic accidents by 20 per cent.
Air pollution can hinder heart's electrical functioning
Microscopic particles in polluted air can adversely affect the heart's ability to conduct electrical signals in people with serious coronary artery disease, researchers reported in
Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.