road injury prevention - the road victims’ perspective brigitte chaudhry

Road Injury Prevention -the road victims’

perspective

Brigitte Chaudhry

FEVR President and RoadPeace FounderEuroSafe Conference ,June 2006

Annual primary victims

Killed: 45,000 - 127,000 Europe-wide (1.2 million worldwide)

Injured: 2.5 m in Europe (50 million worldwide)

Real Scale?

But annual statistics ignore the• Disabled (4 permanently disabled

for every death

• Secondary casualties, inc. the bereaved and families of disabled

Societal response

“accident”• Not accurate• Not constructive• Not sensitive

Justice sector response

•inadequate investigations•inappropriate charges•trivial sentences

Health sector response

• Belated acknowledgement as public health priority

• Limited pre-hospital and trauma care focus

• Lack of research into impacts

Government response

•Responsibility—lack of ownership

•Law enforcement—not a priority

•Targets—accept higher levels of risk and death on roads

FEVR SurveyImpact of Road Death and Injury, 1996/7

Over 1300 responses from 9 countries

Bereaved Disabled

Fall in standard of living 50% 60%

Long term decline in quality of life

90% 80%

Not received criminal justice 89% 68%

Suffered depression 62% 40%

Basic needs of trauma victims

•Full and accurate information•Upholding of their human

rights•Acknowledgement of their

loss and suffering by society, government and the judicial system

RoadPeace Justice Campaign, launched in 1998

1. Victims’ right to information & consultation

2. Investigations to national standards3. Criminal proceedings to bring justice4. Civil compensation to provide

fairness5. Medical care to national standards6. Coordinated government strategy

What FEVR wants to see

1. Proper acknowledgement as a global road safety and public health crisis

2. Parity with other victims of violence

3. Risk of road death and serious injury to be reduced to that of other travel