Mexico
Mexico loses about 17 000 lives due to road traffic crashes every year. It has a road traffic fatality rate of 20 deaths per 100 000 population. Majority (68%) of those killed are passengers of four-wheelers though pedestrians also constitute a significant proportion (21%) of these fatalities. According to the recently published WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety, though there are laws on speed, Blood Alcohol Concentration for the general population, seat-belt wearing and helmet wearing, they are poorly enforced. In addition, there is no adequate provision of infrastructure for non-motorized modes of transport. Mexico is one of the ten countries included in the WHO Road Safety in 10 countries project which will be conducted over 5-years by a consortium of six international partners.
Fact sheet
Road safety project
The road safety project in Mexico is led by federal and state project working groups, consisting of representatives from Ministry of Health/National Center for Injury Prevention, Jalisco State Center for Accident Prevention, Mexico City Ministry of Health, Mexico City Ministry of Public Security, Nuevo Leon Institute for Vehicle Control, Nuevo Leon State Center for Accident Prevention, Muevete por tu Ciudad, Safe Kids Mexico, National Automobile Association Mexico, Center for Sustainable Transport, National Institute of Public Health and Institute of Geography. Each state has a coordinating committee. WHO, the Global Road Safety Partnership, Johns Hopkins University, the Association for Safe International Road Travel and EMBARQ are the international consortium partners who will provide technical guidance and funding. WHO country office coordinates the project.
This project builds on a earlier project that was implemented in the period 2007-2009. The project sites are Monterrey city and San Pedro Garza in Nuevo Leon state, Leon city in the state of Guanajuato, Guadalajara and Zapopan in Jalisco state and Mexico City in Federal district of Mexico. These municipalities are preparing project plans for continuation. Project activities will continue to focus on controlling drinking and driving, and increasing seat-belt wearing. In addition to the road safety prevention work, EMBARQ will also work with federal and state partners in the area of sustainable transport planning.
For more information, please contact :
Mr Roy Rojas in the WHO Mexican office on rojasroy@mex.ops-oms.org, or
Dr Eugênia Rodrigues in the regional office on rodrigem@paho.org, or
Dr Meleckidzedeck Khayesi at WHO headquarters on khayesim@who.int