Tortuous evolution

The first cars were going at the speed of the horse, but unlike him, were unable to be stopped quickly, especially on an inadequate road network. The difficulty of their behavior and the fear of this new device have led some countries to legislate on the matter strictly by requiring cars beings preceded by a man on foot ("Locomotive Act" in the United Kingdom, for example)

The change in perception by the general public occurred when the car was democratized. 1920 to 1960, road safety, or lack thereof, does émeuvent person is free speed out of town and uncivil behavior commonplace. In France, the slaughter peaked in 1972 with 16,548 deaths that year, which was marked by the creation of inter-ministerial security routière. A significant decrease was subsequently obtained through improved vehicles, the introduction of speed limits, the obligation of wearing a seat belt thanks to the expansion of highways and reducing psychotropic drugs, including alcohol, to be down to about 6,000 in the early 2000.

This trend observed in developed countries is far from widespread. The extremely rapid increase in the number of vehicles circulating in developing countries (China, India, etc..) Or no intervention for road safety in other countries (Russia, Iran, etc..) Leads to Road mortality continues to rise globally, and could become one of the top three causes of mortalité. The World Health Organization (WHO) published in June 2009 the first global report on road safety in 178 countries finds that accidents do every year 1.2 million people between 20 and 50 million injuries non-fatal. Over 90% of accidents occur in countries with low or middle income, with less than half the fleet mondial.