Traffic accidents, youthful new pandemic The main cause of death for people aged between 15 and 19 years is not AIDS or cancer or any disease, but traffic accidents, that is the conclusion of a report by the World Health Organization published in the World Week Road Safety. The main cause of death for people aged between 15 and 19 years is not AIDS or cancer or any disease, but traffic accidents, that is the conclusion of a report by the World Health Organization published in the World Week Road Safety. Dr. Etienne Krug, director of the Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention WHO Scientific told the BBC that “traffic accidents worldwide kill 1.2 million people each year, 400,000 are younger than 25 years.” In addition, some 50 million people are injured or disabled and 90 of these occur in low-and middle-income. “Every day in road accidents die before some 1,000 young people around the world,” he said. Krug said, “is like saying that two or three schools full of children disappear every day, which is a very serious problem.” Deaths and injuries from auto accidents, says the organization is a tragedy that puedeprevenirse. Victims The report found that most victims are young men and children who are three times more likely to die in these accidents than women or girls of that age. The highest rates -90 – of deaths occur in poorer countries, mostly in Africa and Middle East, and then Latin America and Asia, “said Etienne Krug. The report shows a very different pattern of mortality between developed and developing nations. Dr. Krug explains, “while in developed countries the main victims are drivers and passengers.” “But in poor countries, young people most at risk of death are cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians and passengers of public transport.” In Latin America, the victims are pedestrians and passengers of public transport. Among young people who run the risk of accidents are caused by drinking alcohol, driving too fast or inexperience complex traffic conditions. Or even deliberately exposed to risks when driving because they are under pressure from friends. Costs Besides the human toll, the economic cost of road accidents is enormous. In Bogota, Colombia, carts and pedestrians share the street with autos.Se estimated that in low and middle income lost between U.S. 65.000 million and 100,000 million dollars each year. But high-income countries are also not exempt from the enormous economic burden of road accidents. In the U.S., says the WHO, accidents of drivers aged between 15 and 20 years cost the country some 41,000 million dollars.
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