These accidents therefore include collisions between vehicles and animals, vehicles and pedestrians, or vehicles and fixed obstacles. All f atality and injury totals include pedestrians, motorcyclists and bicyclists unless otherwise noted. In less developed countries, road traffic accidents were the most significant cause of injuries, ranking eleventh among the most important causes of lost years of healthy life. Traffic accidents are the main cause of this rise. Road traffic injuries are expected to take third place in the rank order of disease burden by the year 2020.
Traffic accidents are a major cause of severe injuries in most countries.
Developing countries have nearly four times the number of deaths from these causes as the developed world. Worldwide, the WHO reports that 38,848,625 injuries were received by people involved in motor vehicle accidents in 1998. The chart below summarizes the traffic statistics in the WHO report. The groupings into poor nations and wealthy nations reflect the report. One in every three road traffic deaths involved people younger than 25 years of age.