Global trends

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 1.2 million people are killed every year in road accidents and a further 50 million are injured. If present trends continue, these figures are expected to increase by 60% by 2020. Road accidents could soon rank third in the WHO’s list of the 10 main causes of death and injury. 

Most of these accidents concern the inhabitants of developing countries, where the use of motor vehicles is on the rise. More than 1,000 new vehicles are registered in Beijing everyday.

Asia is not the only continent faced with a rising toll of road deaths. Latin America has the highest rate of fatal road accidents in the world. Increasing road traffic threatens to increase the number of road accidents. Concerted action must be taken in these countries to make vehicles safer and raise motorists’ awareness. Renault has already understood this. Read more about road safety and Renault's actions.

Road traffic injury mortality rates (per 100,000 population) in WHO regions for 2002

In Europe

In Europe (25 EU member countries), road safety has made progress over the past 15 years. The number of road deaths fell from 56,000 in 1991 to 43,800 in 2004.

This drop in fatal road accidents is a result of:

• regulations,
• road safety education and awareness-raising campaigns,
• enforcement and sanctions,
• road traffic management, such as road signs and deviations,
• improved infrastructure,
• increased vehicle safety.                

The WHO expects the number of road accidents in OECD countries to drop by almost 30% by 2020.

In France

Road accident rates have fallen continuously over the past 15 years. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of deaths and injuries from road accidents was halved.

Particularly good results have been achieved since 2002. The decisive action taken by the public authorities over the last two years has paid off: 

• the number of accidents fell by 20% between 2002 and 2005 (84,525 accidents in 2005); 
• the number of road fatalities decreased by more than 30% (5,318 deaths in 2005);
• the number of injured road users fell by over 22% (108,076 injured people).                

A stringent policy of enforcement and sanctions, has brought about real changes in behavior:

• increased wearing of seat belts in urban areas, to 94% in 2005 compared with 60% in 1990;
• speed limit violations are decreasing;
• real progress has been made in preventing drunk-driving. The number of fatal accidents linked to drunk-driving was halved between 1990 and 2005.                 

Source: The National Inter-ministerial Road Safety Observatory