Foreign roads can be deadly for travelers

0 Comments | USA TODAY, August, 2007 | by Gary Stoller

Motor vehicle crashes -- not crime or terrorism -- are the No.1 killer of healthy Americans in foreign countries. And the threat to travelers is poised to increase dramatically as worldwide economic growth gives more people access to motor vehicles.

Corporate employers, including energy giant Chevron, are teaming with safety advocates to combat what they view as a rapidly worsening epidemic of highway deaths and injuries, particularly in developing countries.

"The road-safety problem worldwide for travelers and locals constitutes a growing public health crisis," says Tony Bliss, lead road safety specialist for the World Bank. He says it's "a far greater problem than many more widely acknowledged diseases."

Much of the growth in motor vehicle usage...