By Paul Constance A traffic accident has to be truly horrific to make headlines in Latin America these days. Like the bus in El Salvador that recently plunged into a ravine while attempting to pass on a curve, killing more than 30 passengers. The danger of driving on most Latin American roads has become a macabre clich and a drain on the region s societies and economies. According to estimates compiled by the Danish Road Directorate in a study financed by the IDB, at least 100,000 people are killed in traffic accidents and 1.2 million are injured each year in Latin America.
Traffic accidents occur far more frequently in Latin America than in most industrialized countries.
For every 10,000 vehicles in circulation, the average Latin American country registers around 18 traffic fatalities per year. But the most singular phenomenon on Latin America s streets is the number of pedestrians who are hit and killed by vehicles. According to Charles Wright, a senior economist and transportation expert at the IDB, this is due partly to the fact that the region s cities are very densely populated and that walking is still the main form of transportation for most urban dwellers. But the bigger reason for pedestrian fatalities, he adds, is that the traffic circulation system in most Latin American cities was designed with only vehicles in mind. In many cities sidewalks are narrow, poorly marked or nonexistent, forcing pedestrians to take their chances in the street.