Over 1.2 million people die each year on the world' roads, and between 20 and 50 million suffer non-fatal injuries. In most regions of the world this epidemic of road traffic injuries is still increasing. In the past five years most countries have endorsed the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention which give guidance on how countries can implement a comprehensive approach to improving road safety and reducing the death toll on their roads. To date, however, there has been no global assessment of road safety that indicates the extent to which this approach is bei