ABSTRACT
The problem of deaths and injury as a result of road accidents is now acknowledged Global to be a global phenomenon, with authorities in virtually all countries concerned problem about the growth in the number of people killed and seriously injured on their roads. In recent years, two major studies of causes of death worldwide have been published: The Global Burden of Disease (Murray and Lopez 1996) and the World Health Report - Making a Difference (WHO 1999). These show that, in 1990, road accidents lay in ninth place out of a total of over hundred separately identified causes of death and disability. However, the reports also forecast that, by the year 2020, road accidents wil l move up to sixth place and, in terms of 'years of life lost' (YLL) and 'disability-adjusted life years' (DALYs - which express years of life lost to premature death, and years lived with disability, adjusted for the severity of the disability), wil l be in second and third place respectively.
