AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

report examines some recent explanations for the rising road fatality rates in developing countries. A key insight of these recent studies is that road fatalities per capita follow a Kuznets curve (an inverted-U shaped pattern with rising income per capita). The rising fatalities per capita in developing countries can be expected to reach a peak and then fall. However, if present trends continue, the already high fatality rates in developing countries could rise for several years before peaking. The report adopts the road fatalities Kuznets curve as a framework, and decomposes the per capita fatality rate into two terms that are multiplied together: vehicles per capita and fatalities per vehicle. Reducing either term, holding the other fixed, would lower fatalities pe