Introduction: the global challenge of road traffic injuries: can we achieve equity in safety?

This paper provides an overview of this special issue of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, which is devoted to road traffic injuries and health equity. The issue includes nine country reports that provide baseline data on the burden of road traffic injuries. The reports also analyze current road safety activities, key stakeholders and major constraints to road safety. The country reports all emphasize that a critical first step toward improving road safety conditions is accurate data collection. A number of other common challenges are reported, including the lack of properly organized public transportation systems; highways that cross populated areas and markets; inadequate provisions for pedestrians; and ineffective national road safety councils. The reports were part of an international conference to review the current impact of road traffic injuries in low- and middle-income Asian, African and Latin American countries, assess interventions to reduce the burden of these injuries, and begin to develop multi-country intervention plans for reducing this toll through programs, policies, research and action. As a result of the discussions at the conference, a call to action was developed as a shared statement of purpose and commitment to work together to reduce road traffic injuries.