Road Safety Conditions and Estimated Economic Cost of Traffic Fatalities in Medium-Size Colombian Cities

Abstract

The Colombia Ministry of Transport, by Resolution 001282 of March 30, 2012, adopted the National Road Safety Plan 2011–2016, which consists of five lines of action, including institutional aspects, strategies on human behavior, strategies on motor vehicles, strategies on road infrastructure, and the attention and rehabilitation system of victims of traffic accidents, for achieving national objectives. In late 2012, the national government (through the Ministry of Transport) subscribed agreements with 10 medium-size Colombian cities to advance their local road safety plans. These 10 cities are among the 25 cities with the highest crash fatality rates per 100,000 inhabitants. The paper presents an overview of the safety conditions in the study cities, which included valuable input provided by the Municipal Road Safety Committee, coupled with data collected in field inspections, spatial analysis, and a review of secondary data sources. This analysis shows that motorcyclists are the most vulnerable road users, followed by pedestrians and cyclists. These road users accounted for between 57.7% and 98.5% of the total traffic fatalities in 2011. This statistic suggests the urgent need for government policies and actions to protect the lives of the most vulnerable road users. The investment of the cities in road safety and related projects is low compared with their gross domestic product and crash fatality costs. This analysis indicates that an effective traffic fine collection system would provide the cities with the money they need to increase their annual investment on road safety projects by 50%, 100%, or even 200%.