Bloomberg Philanthropies Funded Report Names Traffic Injuries Leading Killer of Children and Young People
Report says there are 1.35 million annual traffic deaths worldwide.
A person dies every 24 seconds from a traffic-related incident, according to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Annually, that adds up to approximately 1.35 million fatalities caused by road traffic injuries, a figure that is on the rise but reflects a stable rate in relation to the earth's growing population.
The numbers come from WHO's global status report on road safety 2018, which was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The report, which is released every two or three years, represents data collected up to 2016. Possibly the most alarming finding of the report is traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young people ages 5 to 29.
Although the total number of fatalities has continued to go up, there were three areas in the world where the rate of deaths has declined since the last report: the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific....