According to a new study out of Mc Master Univerisity, Canada, a professor warns that poorer areas of a country are at more risk of being involved in a road crash. We already know that low and middle income countries suffer a higher rate of road crashes in the world in a macro perspective but zooming into to a nation’s economy suggests similarities.
Children living in downtown Hamilton, Toronto, Canada may be at a higher risk of pedestrian injury, according to a new study out of McMaster University. The study shows a link between high-levels of commuter traffic — as opposed to local traffic — and higher levels of pedestrian child injury.
Geography professor Nikolaos Yiannakoulias studied Toronto neighbourhoods and compared local traffic (drivers coming from that neighbourhood), arriving traffic (drivers arriving at their destination in that neighbourhood) and flow-through traffic (drivers passing through the neighbourhood on their way somewhere else).
He discovered certain neighbourhoods, especially lower income areas, with higher levels of flow-through traffic also saw higher levels of pedestrian child injury.
However, areas with high levels of local traffic did not see the same levels of injury. Even if the neighbourhood had very high volume of traffic, if it was local the levels of injury did not increase, the study found.
“It may be that drivers going through a neighbourhood may not know where children are or where schools are,” Yiannakoulias explained. “Their decision to commute or not commute has an impact on everyone.”
Yiannakoulias said he plans to continue the research to identify exactly what the connection is between commuter traffic and pedestrian injury. He hopes to expand the research to other cities, especially Hamilton, where Yiannakoulias says many similar issues exist.
“There are major East-West throughways in Hamilton with schools very close,” he pointed out.
“There are kids walking to school and many are having to cross these major streets where there is a lot of traffic going fast and this is the same kind of commuter traffic we saw in Toronto.”
Yiannakoulias said busy commuter streets have an impact not only on pedestrian injury but also personal and community health. If parents are worried about traffic, they may not let their children walk to school, which deprives them of physical activity and a chance to engage with their neighbourhood, he said.
“It’s definitely a concern to many people living in lower Hamilton. They’re scared to let their children walk to school.”
City council has been cautious in making transit changes in Hamilton. The issue of two-way street conversion often crops up, as recently as last fall, but as Mayor Bob Brattina said then, making changes is not always as simple as it seems.
“We’re sacrificing an awful lot for through traffic.”
A global comparison – YOURS Analysis
While the reasons behind higher traffic in low-income neighbourhood in Canada is still under investigation, in comparison to a global perspective, it is clear that the poorer parts of the world also experience higher levels of road crashes and hence fit a burden with regards to road deaths.
When we picture ‘poorer’ countries, we often think of a deficit of material goods and this translates, in road safety terms, to poor infrastructure, inadequate or no road safety laws, poor road safety education and poor safety systems in cars. These components of the road safety system are often neglected or missing in low and middle income countries as could be the case in ‘poorer’ neighbourhoods in the Western world.
Poor road infrastructure in some parts of Kenya, Africa result in higher rates of road crashes and deaths.
It is therefore clear that road safety is inherently linked to economics but also to education, law making and law enforcement. While an argument for investment in road safety may be made of economic arguments; that a country simply cannot afford it, the reverse is true. Road safety actually saves money in the long run such as the recent example in Catalonia Span (report in attachments). The road safety policies implemented in Catalonia in recent years were associated with a reduction in the number of deaths and injuries from traffic collisions and with substantial economic benefits to society.