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WORLD HEALTH DAY 2004
The World Health Organization has designated "Road Safety" as the theme for this year's World Health Day to be held on Wednesday, April 7, 2004. The World Health Organization estimates that each day around the world, 3,000 people die and 140,000 are injured, 15,000 of those are disabled for life, as the result of motor vehicle collisions.
The countries most successful in reducing highway carnage have engaged many different groups from government and the private sector in coordinated programs of road safety research, development and implementation.
Now, some of the most heavily motorized countries, such as Canada, have some of the lowest rates of road traffic death. By contrast, developing countries have some of the highest death rates, with cyclists and pedestrians being the most vulnerable.
In Canada traffic fatalities peaked in the early 1970s. Since that time, Canada's population has grown by 40%, and the number of vehicles has increased by 80%. Despite this increased mobility, the number of traffic fatalities has been cut by more than half.
This is an impressive statistic, still there is much work to be done, when impaired driving remains as the leading criminal cause of death in Canada and is a factor in one of every three road users killed, and vehicle occupants who do not wear seatbelts continue to account for 40% of those killed in collisions.
With the support of the Canadian Association of Chief's of Police, Toronto police officers, city wide, will be in the schools, malls, seniors homes and other different facilities around Toronto delivering road safety messages.
For further information on World Health Day 2004 contact Police Constable Julie Mahoney at (416)808-1939.
Police Constable Julie Mahoney and Superintendent Stephen Grant
