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The FIA Foundation are warning that benefits from new aid and debt relief for developing countries agreed by the G8 summit next week could be squandered in road crashes. 
  
Donors currently provide around $50 billion a year to the poorest countries. Yet the cost of road crashes to developing countries is estimated to be as high as $100 billion* - twice the amount of all incoming aid. 
  
As the world prepares for the G8 Gleneagles summit, road safety campaigners are warning that forecasts of further dramatic increases in road deaths in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia could in the future jeopardise any development gains achieved at the summit. 
  
'Counting the cost: road crashes and the poor', a new paper from the FIA Foundation and RAC Foundation, details the impact of road injuries: 
  
* Road traffic injuries cost the poorest countries between 1% - 5% of their Gross National Product (GNP);
* At least 100,000 people are killed in road crashes in Sub-Saharan Africa each year. Road deaths in the region are predicted to rise by 80% between 2000 - 2020; 
* In Kenya, more than 75% of road crashes involve economically productive young adults;
* In Botswana, road fatalities have increased by nearly 400% in the past 30 years. Over the same period the UK has reduced road deaths by 50%;
* In some developing country hospitals, as many as 40% of surgical hospital beds are taken up by road traffic injury victims; 
* For young men road injuries are the second leading cause of premature death (behind HIV/AIDS). 
  
More than 1.2 million people are killed in road crashes around the world each year, more than 85% of these in lower and middle income countries. Now the FIA Foundation and motoring organisations around the world are launching a global campaign to raise the profile of road injuries, a neglected development issue, including a global petition calling for greater action by the international community. 
  
Many road safety improvements in developing countries can be made at relatively low cost. The benefits of road safety investment can be in the order of a 10 -1 return. These include:
  
* including road safety audits in road building projects funded by international donors; 
* introducing road traffic laws and improving police enforcement; 
* requiring seat belt and motorcycle helmet use; 
* building pedestrian crossings, tunnels or bridges;
* introducing road markings and crash barriers;
* raising awareness and encouraging road safety education. 
  
Saul Billingsley, FIA Foundation Deputy Director said: 
  
"Tackling road safety is vital if wider poverty goals are to be achieved. Road deaths and injuries are both a human tragedy and an economic cost that struggling families and poor nations can ill afford. Billions of dollars that should be spent on health and education and building economic success are being wasted in often preventable road crashes. Road safety should be at the heart of development policies, but is instead neglected by governments with devastating consequences." 
  
Edmund King, Executive Director of the RAC Foundation said;
  
"Whilst many people genuinely want the G8 countries to tackle global poverty we must ensure that more money goes into global road safety. A relatively small amount of money can produce massive returns in terms of lives saved. It is tragic that road deaths are the main cause of premature death after HIV/Aids amongst young men in the developing world. One million people are dying each year in road accidents in the lower and middle-income countries. We must not allow this to continue."
  
ENDS
  

  
* *The World Bank recently estimated road crash costs in developing countries at $100 billion. Costs for road traffic crashes include direct costs, such as medical care, property damage and insurance administration; and indirect costs including property damage, delays on the roads, loss of earnings, lost productivity and environmental costs. Because of under reporting of road injuries and lack of data in many countries, all figures are best estimates. 
  

* 'Counting the cost: road crashes and the poor', a new paper from the FIA Foundation and RAC Foundation available on request.
  
The FIA Foundation 'Think Global' road safety petition can be viewed and signed online at www.fiafoundation.com 

Source: The RAC Foundation