The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on April 26, 2006
The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl031
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1 Resident, Department of Surgery, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Background: Road traffic injuries (RTI) are a major cause of mortality and disability in the world. Only after significant losses have communities in developed nations taken necessary steps to prevent crashes and their consequences. Increase in road safety is related to increasing socio-economic development. We aim to study the trends in injury and death rates in a developing country, India, define sub-national variations, and analyse these trends in relation to economic and population growth. Methods: Public sector data from India were used to develop a standardized database on traffic injuries and indicator of economic development. The data were analysed using linear regression models to test the a priori hypothesis of a positive relationship between net domestic product (NDP), and injury and death rates from road crashes across states. Results: The absolute burden of RTI in India has been consistently rising over the past three decades. The reported rates are lower than those estimated by global health agencies and may reflect under-reporting. Population-based rates provide a better assessment of the public health burden of RTI than vehicle-based rates. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between NDP and injury and death rates. Even with the limited data, Kuznets phenomenon is evident for within-country level comparisons. Conclusions: India and other developing countries could learn from the experience of highly motorized nations to avoid the expected rise in RTI and deaths with economic development, by currently investing in road safety and prevention measures.
Received September 5, 2005
Accepted January 11, 2006
Article
Exploring the relationship between development and road traffic injuries: a case study from India
Nitin Garg 1 
and
Adnan A. Hyder 2 *
2 Department of International Health and Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Adnan A. Hyder, E-mail: ahyder{at}jhsph.edu
Abstract At the time of the study Nitin Garg was a research assistant in the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD, USA.
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