Dangerous Roads : Russia’s Safety Challenge

Abstract

As in many countries of the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA), vehicle ownership in Russia has grown faster in the last decade than the decline in the rate of fatalities per vehicle. At the same time, road safety policies and interventions have not kept pace with the boom in motorization. In 2008, the motor vehicle fleet in the country exceeded 41 million cars, up 24 percent from 2004, and the number of drivers licensed increased by 40 percent during this period. In 2008, Russia saw nearly 30,000 road traffic deaths and about 271,000 non-fatal road traffic injuries. While these figures represent a drop of 13 percent from 2004, Russia's road traffic mortality rate is still five times higher than what is seen in several European Union (EU) countries, about twice more than in the United States, higher than in other Eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary, and higher than the average for Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.