What if we lived in a world where no one died from a car crash? It sounds like pure fantasy, right? But a 150 years ago, this was a reality that everyone knew. And, when Henry Ford started pumping out Model A’s, he probably wasn’t thinking too much about the fact that “the car” would one day be the leading cause of death for children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 29.
This is a startling statistic but that’s not even the half of it:
- Each year, 1.35 million people die from traffic-related accidents around the world.
- Vehicle crashes cost most countries around 3 percent of their gross domestic products.
- Half of the people who die in traffic accidents around the world are not riding in vehicles. They’re pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists.
- Ninety-three percent of global traffic deaths happen in developing nations, in spite of the fact that these countries only have 60 percent of the vehicles in the world.
It’s a little hard to believe that these statistics are true — which is probably why the World Health Organization (WHO) has put on its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development the goal of reducing the number of traffic-related deaths by 50 percent before we reach the year 2020. That’s an ambitious target considering how many people die in car crashes each year. It’s especially ambitious considering the fact that the vast majority of these deaths happen in developing nations, where entire populations of drivers will need to be educated to change their driving habits.
Traffic accident injuries and fatalities happen no matter where you happen to live. If you were hurt in a traffic collision in Pennsylvania — even if you don’t know whose fault it was — consider speaking with an attorney to investigate your ability to pursue financial compensation.