Accident statistics from Laos and Vietnam reveal a growing awareness of the problems needing attention. Vietnam's Government is launching a new road safety campaign while the authorities in Laos have identified poor road conditions and increasing vehicle numbers as playing a role in rising accident rates.
The new campaign by the983 Vietnamese Government is intended to reduce traffic fatalities by 38% by 2020. Called Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, this should cut accidents to eight for every 100,000 persons in the country by 2020, instead of the current 13 of 100,000.
The campaign includes distribution of materials to primary schools, road safety demonstrations, art drawing programmes, and distribution of helmets amongst powered two wheeler users. Those that will take part in the campaign include3391 United Nations International Children's Fund (Unicef), 3263 World Health Organisation (WHO), 3390 Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) and Ministry of Transport. It is estimated that by 2020, 1.9 million people will die due to road accidents every year, while 50 million will suffer from injuries that are not life-threatening, should no major action be taken.
The issue of road safety is of key importance in Asia in particular. Improving economic conditions means that vehicle numbers are growing fast in several countries, while infrastructure investment is also expanding. However safety provisions are proving unequal to the task of holding back the growing numbers of injuries and fatalities. Several countries such as China and Malaysia have already initiated campaigns to reduce accident levels, with China for example recently introducing more severe penalties for drink drivers as well as tougher enforcement by police. The Laos Traffic Police Department's Accident Prevention Division points to poor road conditions and growing vehicle numbers as being major factors in the fast growing accident rate in the country. Official data shows that there is a major disparity between the number of vehicles registered in the country in comparison with the number of driving license holders.
Statistics collected by the Laos Traffic Police Department reveal that there were a total of 3,557 traffic accidents between October 2010 and April 2011, including 507 incidents involving fatalities. Alcohol use by drivers and poor knowledge of safe driving are attributed to a large number of accidents in the country. The total number of registered vehicles in Laos is expected to hit 1.8 million in 2011. At the end of 2010, the number of driver's licenses issued stood at just 40% of the number of vehicles registered on the country's roads.
The new campaign by the
The campaign includes distribution of materials to primary schools, road safety demonstrations, art drawing programmes, and distribution of helmets amongst powered two wheeler users. Those that will take part in the campaign include
The issue of road safety is of key importance in Asia in particular. Improving economic conditions means that vehicle numbers are growing fast in several countries, while infrastructure investment is also expanding. However safety provisions are proving unequal to the task of holding back the growing numbers of injuries and fatalities. Several countries such as China and Malaysia have already initiated campaigns to reduce accident levels, with China for example recently introducing more severe penalties for drink drivers as well as tougher enforcement by police. The Laos Traffic Police Department's Accident Prevention Division points to poor road conditions and growing vehicle numbers as being major factors in the fast growing accident rate in the country. Official data shows that there is a major disparity between the number of vehicles registered in the country in comparison with the number of driving license holders.
Statistics collected by the Laos Traffic Police Department reveal that there were a total of 3,557 traffic accidents between October 2010 and April 2011, including 507 incidents involving fatalities. Alcohol use by drivers and poor knowledge of safe driving are attributed to a large number of accidents in the country. The total number of registered vehicles in Laos is expected to hit 1.8 million in 2011. At the end of 2010, the number of driver's licenses issued stood at just 40% of the number of vehicles registered on the country's roads.
