Comparing road safety performance across countries: Do data source and type of mortality indicator matter?

Area of Science:

• Road safety
• Public health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Road safety performance evaluation is crucial for policy-making.
• Discrepancies in data sources and mortality indicators can impact evaluation outcomes.
• Existing road safety data may lack consistency, affecting global and national decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of different data sources (WHO vs. GBD) on road safety performance evaluation.
• To examine how varying mortality indicators (population-based vs. exposure-based) influence country rankings.
• To highlight the implications of these variations for policy-makers and researchers.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of road safety data from World Health Organization (WHO) and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) sources.
• Calculation of mortality rate ratios (MRR) and differences in country rankings.
• Evaluation of changes in mortality rates between 2010 and 2013 using population-based and vehicle-based indicators.

Main Results:

• Significant inconsistencies were found between WHO and GBD data sources for 19% of countries.
• Country rankings differed by over 20 positions for 45% of countries when using population-based mortality.
• Population-based vs. vehicle-based mortality data showed substantial ranking differences (≥ 20 positions) in 33-42 countries.
• Nine countries exhibited opposing mortality trends between 2010-2013 depending on the indicator used.

Conclusions:

• Data source and mortality indicator choice significantly impact road safety performance rankings.
• Differences in estimates may stem from data input and modeling variations between WHO and GBD.
• Exposure-based mortality indicators are preferable for road safety evaluation when data permit.
• Further research is needed to understand and address variations in road traffic mortality and progress.