In India, 50% who die in road accidents are below 35 years of age, reveals WHO report

People in their youth are much more likely to die in road accidents, a study by the World Health Organization has found, according to a report in The Times of India. The age group between 15 to 29 years accounts for one-fourth of the total number of people killed in fatal accidents across the world, The Times of India report says. In India, the picture is even more worrisome with more than 50% of the people being below the age of 35 years. [caption id=“attachment_2475822” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: PTI[/caption] At least 1.25 million people die each year as a result of road accidents, according to the report. Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death globally and have taken an “unacceptable toll – particularly on poor people in poor countries”, Xinhua cited from WHO’s global status report on road safety 2015. The report noted that “a big gap still separates high-income countries from low and middle-income ones where 90 percent of road traffic deaths occur in spite of having just 54 percent of the world’s vehicles”. The report also found that some vehicles sold in 80 percent of all countries worldwide fail to meet basic safety standards, particularly in low and middle-income countries where nearly 50 percent of the 67 million new passenger cars were produced in 2014. “Road traffic injuries cause considerable economic losses to victims, their families, and to nations as a whole. These losses arise from the cost of treatment (including rehabilitation and incident investigation) as well as reduced/lost productivity (e.g. in wages) for those killed or disabled by their injuries,” the WHO report said. The report also says that road accidents cost countries about 3% of their gross national product. The figure is said to go up to 5% in certain low-income and middle-income countries. With inputs from IANS