Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in people ages 10 to 24 around the world — a huge, overlooked and largely preventable public health problem, the World Health Organization said yesterday. In a new report, the organization promoted a long list of suggestions to developing countries, where most of the deaths and disabling injuries occur. The improvements include safer roads and vehicles, better urban planning, helmet laws, prosecution of speeders and drunken drivers, better education of the driving and walking public, and simple interventions such as putting reflective tape on backpacks. ‘It is a big public health issue for kids, and we can do something about it,’ said Etienne Krug, a physician who heads WHO’s department for injury and violence prevention. As does most of the public health world, WHO eschews the term ‘traffic accidents.’ In a statement accompanying the report, the organization’s new director-general, Margaret Chan, said that ‘road traffic crashes are not ‘accidents.’ We need to challenge the notion that they are unavoidable.’ About 30 percent of all traffic deaths worldwide — roughly 400,000 each year — are of people younger than 25. Although teenage and young-adult drivers are at greatest risk, […]