MOBILIZING DEVELOPMENT

How To Make Transport Sustainable 26
The starkly different statistics in road deaths and injuries
between developed and developing countries point
to the urgent need to build capacity in developing
countries. SDG 3 on health includes a target on
road safety, calling on the global community to cut
road deaths by half by 2020. This short time frame
is appropriate considering the critical nature of the
problem. Reaching this target will take concerted efforts
from a range of actors.
Safety is critical for all modes. For rail systems,
intersections with roads represent one of the most
significant safety risks. Each year, there are millions of
near misses and over 6,000 deaths at level crossings
(almost all due to intentional or unintentional violation
of traffic rules by the motorist, cyclist or pedestrian). 52
According to the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association,
every year between 1,500 and 2,000 fatalities 53 occur, a
rate of approximately 1 per million riders, and over 95%
of the fatalities are in the developing world. 54 Overall,
public transport travel has about a tenth the traffic
casualty (death or injury) rate as automobile travel, and
residents of transit-oriented communities have about a
fifth the per capita crash casualty rate as in automobileoriented
communities. 55
Advancing sustainable transport in countries in
special situations
Landlocked developing countries and small island
developing states face particular challenges in
advancing sustainable transport solutions. 56 Intermodality,
as noted above, is difficult to achieve in
landlocked countries and small island developing
states, because of their geographical realities.
Landlocked countries depend on transit through
neighbouring countries to reach seaports, and the
border crossings and sheer distances, especially with
infrastructure that is often inadequate, undermine the
competitiveness of these countries. 57 For small island
developing states, highly dependent on food and
energy imports, and often relying heavily on tourism
for revenue and livelihoods, transport is critical. With
their remoteness and small size, these island states are
often underserved by transport providers, and their
vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the growing impacts
of climate change. 58