A new report argues that high-quality public transport systems can improve traffic safety and reduce injuries and fatalities by up to 50 per cent in cities.
Produced by the World Resources Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, the report says that unsafe traffic on city streets is a negative outcome of accelerated global urbanisation.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over 1.2 million people (link is external) die on the world’s roads each year. The WHO also predicts that, without intervention, traffic crashes could become the fifth leading cause of global deaths by 2030.
The report says that the growth in bus rapid transit, which serves more than 31 million people daily, provides an opportunity to improve safety rather than contribute to these statistics.
Key findings from the report outline safety benefits for passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists when designing safe, high-quality bus priority systems.
For more information, visit www.embarq.org/research
Original author: Alexia
