The College of Medicine at the University of Karbala organized a scientific symposium on how to prevent and prevent road accidents, coinciding with the World Day for Victims of Road Traffic Accidents, as traffic accidents kill about 1.19 million people annually, and between 20-50 million others suffer non-fatal injuries, noting that many of them become disabled.
Injuries resulting from traffic accidents also cause huge economic losses to individuals, their families and entire countries. These losses result from the cost of treatment as well as the loss of productivity of people who die or become disabled due to their injury and their family members who are forced to miss work or school to care for the injured, as traffic accidents cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product, as road accidents resulted in more than 5,500 deaths in 2022 in Iraq, and most of the accident victims are young people from teenagers and young adults from 5 to 29 years old.
The seminar was presented by Professor Dr. Ali Abdul Redha Abu Tahin and Dr. Safaa Mahmoud Abbas. Road accidents are a major cause of death worldwide, with one person dying on the road every 25 seconds.
The seminar, which was held under the slogan of prevention and protection from road accidents, aimed to identify road hazards and the main strategies for preventing and combating them.
Dr. Abu Tahin called for raising awareness among those responsible for the security and safety of society by educating drivers, reducing speed, avoiding using the phone as much as possible, and adhering to traffic safety requirements, especially since Abu Tahin stressed the need for motorcycle drivers to wear helmets and not exceed the specified speed.
Dr. Safaa Mahmoud said: Failure to take traffic safety into account in the basic design will increase accidents due to the failure of road implementers and designers to take into account the presence of facilities for pedestrians, motorcycle and bicycle riders, and lanes for people with special needs to reduce fatal accidents.
