"Road Safety," the theme for World Health Day, April 7, will get headline attention as hundreds of organizations lhost events to raise awareness of traffic injuries as a global health problem.
AAA Ambulance Service CEO Wade N. Spruill, Jr., said preventing injuries and deaths from unsafe roadways and drivers' behaviors gets top attention among all AAA employees.
In the United States, improvements in roadway and vehicle design and in driver and passenger behavior have resulted in a steady decrease in the rate of motor vehicle-related fatalities during the previous 75 years (1). Despite these improvements, each year motor-vehicle crashes cause approximately 40,000 deaths in the United States and approximately 1 million deaths worldwide (2,3).
Many programs and policies exist to improve road safety and reduce injuries. These include strategies to reduce high-risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol consumption and speeding); promote use of cycle helmets, safety belts, and other protective devices; and protect pedestrians and cyclists by increasing their visibility and separating them from motorized traffic.
The World Health Organization is responsible for coordinating World Health Day activities and will release its World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (4), underscoring the magnitude of the problem and global prevention strategies. Additional information about road safety events and activities is available at http://who.int/world-health-day/2004/en.
References
1. CDC. Motor-vehicle safety: a 20th century public health achievement. MMWR 1999;48:369--74.
2. CDC. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2001. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.
4. Peden M, Scurfield R, Sleet D, et al. World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 2004 (in press).
About AAA Ambulance Service: AAA Ambulance Service, founded in 1965, created one of the first licensed emergency medical services providers in Mississippi. The community, tax-supported nonprofit organization’s mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce trauma-related personal anguish and health care costs. For more information, visit http://www.aaaambulance.net.
Contact: Christy M. Joy
PO Box 17889
Hattiesburg, MS 39404
207 South. 28th Ave.
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
(601) 264-0175 SND.Email
