Reassessing traffic accidents in developing countries

Abstract

Current approaches to traffic accidents in developing countries have followed methods utilized in industrialized countries, based on the ‘man-vehicle-road’ causal factors. The persistence of poor traffic safety conditions attests to the inadequacies of these methods. The paper proposes that current unsafe conditions have to be analyzed instead in the context of the physical, political, technical and enforcement environments. Alternative approaches are suggested, based on the acknowledgment of the accident as an environmentally related problem and the acceptance of the safe circulation space as a political right. Accordingly, alternative policy actions are suggested.