Traffic: Third Leading Cause Of Death?

According to a World Health Organization report released earlier this month, more than 3,200 people around the world die each day from traffic accidents. Without drastic measures now, traffic deaths could increase by a further 65 percent, becoming the third-leading cause of death by 2020, ahead of tuberculosis, war, and HIV... But the problem of fatal road accidents is clearly a worldwide phenomenon, as much a product of a globalized spirit of impatience as of any other factor. In the US, for instance, 4,808 pedestrians were killed and 71,000 injured in 2002, the last year for which figures are available from the US Department of Transportation. Most pedestrian fatalities occurred in urban areas, and the largest percentage of pedestrians, 23 percent, were children ages 5 to 9."

Thanks to Chris Steins