Evolution of road safety lead agencies in low- and middle-income countries

This study examines the pattern in the establishment of road safety lead agencies (RSLAs) in 31 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It is based on a survey conducted with respondents in these countries. Two patterns emerge from the results. The first pattern is that RSLAs have continuously been established in LMICs over the years with the earliest RSLAs being established nearly four decades ago in a few of the LMICs surveyed. The second pattern is that most countries have established RSLAs through an act of parliament by adopting specific legislation. The study concludes that contrary to the concern raised in the World report on road traffic injury prevention (Peden et al., 2004) about a lack of an agency to coordinate road safety policy among state and nonstate agencies in some countries, the road safety organisational landscape in some of these 31 LMICs included a RSLA by 2000 that should have played this coordination role.