More than 17,000 annual deaths from road accidents reported in Mexico

In Mexico, more than 17,000 deaths caused by traffic mishaps are registered each year, with more than 170,000 people injured, said Arturo Cervantes Trejo, President of the National Alliance for the Road Safety (ANASEVI). He explained that, because of traffic 'events', more than 32,000 people annually have a permanent disability that transforms their lives. Intertraffic and the IV ITS Ibero-American Congress will be held from November 9 to 11 at the Citibanamex Center in Mexico City. With the application of Intelligent Transportation Systems, it is possible to contribute to reducing the number of deaths and injuries due to traffic events.

“It is not correct to call traffic events 'accidents', since they are generally not accidental, but are caused by different human behaviours or characteristics of the environment. It is estimated that 93 percent of traffic events have their origin in avoidable human errors, the rest have to do with vehicle and infrastructure issues”, he explained.

Arturo Cervantes said that if road safety measures are not strengthened in the country, and if the highest standards are not applied in the design of the new General Law on Mobility and Road Safety, which is currently being prepared by the Legislative Power, ANASEVI estimates that between 2021 and 2024 an additional 86,988 lives will be lost due to avoidable issues in daily mobility.

Impact of road insecurity

The road insecurity that we live in Mexico has serious consequences for society. Traffic events have direct costs for deaths and funeral expenses, health expenses for injuries and hospitalizations. In addition, they cause orphanhood and loss of economic income for families. Not to mention damages to vehicles, infrastructure, and to third parties. There are direct costs such as legal expenses and insurance premiums, as well as indirect costs that include productivity losses in companies due to absence from work, loss of specialized personnel and loss of sales due to goods that are not delivered on time.

“This sum of around 506,000 million pesos annually, is 166 percent higher than the investment programmed in the Expenditure Budget of the Federation 2021, for the 11 social welfare programs of the government of the Republic, including Pension for Older Adults, Sowing Life and Youth Building the Future”, he pointed out.

Intertraffic Mexico

The topics of sustainable mobility and road safety will be one of the axes of the fifth edition of Intertraffic Mexico 2021, both on the exhibition floor and in the Conference Program. Intertraffic Mexico, which recently announced its alliance with the IV Ibero-American Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems, or “ITS” for its acronym in English, to join forces to achieve the sustainable mobility objectives of the Second Decade of Action for the Road Safety 2021-2030, proclaimed by the United Nations, using intelligent transport systems (ITS).

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“The synergy will allow the global industry to collaborate in the work aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda, which seek to guarantee access to sustainable and safe transport systems, have quality mobility infrastructure to support economic development and social well-being, as well as reduce the number of accidents and deaths caused by road mishaps”, commented José Azcárate, President of the ITS México Society.

With the application of Intelligent Transportation Systems, the number of deaths, injuries and traffic events in Mexico can be halved. Intertraffic is the main event worldwide for the mobility sector and the iconic meeting of the sector. It concentrates its initiatives on business, knowledge, the network, experiences, and innovations in the sector in terms of roads, traffic management, parking, and new technologies.

The event is aimed at professionals in the different fields of technology for transit and smart mobility, with the participation of specialists who will analyze the future of urban mobility, smart transport, smart cities, big data, traffic management, as well such as the challenges and trends in the sector, among other topics.