Mortality and injury in Ukraine as a result of traffic accidents in measuring of public health: to the analysis of social–legal and criminological problem

Abstract

The aim: Based on the statistics study of the consequences of road accidents for human potential of Ukraine and quantitative indicators of criminal offenses in the field of road safety for the period 2016-2021, as well as assessing the risks to public health of Ukrainian society to carry out socio-legal and criminological analysis of the problem and identify key areas of the national approach to the implementation of the tasks of the Second Decade of Action to ensure road safety (2021-2030).

Materials and methods: The study is based on the results of a survey of ordinary citizens of Ukraine on the state of road safety on the roads of Ukraine; information posted on the WHO website for 2009-2020; statistical reports of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, specialized literature on law, etc. The methodological basis of the research is dialectical, comparative, logical, analytical, synthetic, statistical, and concrete-sociological research methods.

Results: In Ukraine, among adolescents and young people at the age of 15-24, the first and main cause of death from external circumstances is death in an accident. Among young people aged 25-29 years, this is the second leading cause of death (after suicide). Every third child, being in the status of passengers, dies due to the fault of relatives and friends. One-third of all victims are pedestrians. It is estimated that Ukraine lost more than USD 308 million in GDP as a result of the deaths of road accident victims in 2020.

Conclusions: In Ukraine, road accidents are a significant cause of death and disability due to external circumstances, and therefore pose a threat to the public health of the population. The death and disability of people as a result of road accidents cause huge material and human losses to Ukraine. An unsatisfactory state of legal awareness of Ukrainian citizens is a direct threat to public health and a source of the perpetuation of the generally unfavorable trend with the level of criminally punished violations of traffic rules. An important task of the Ukrainian state is to create a service of emergency specialized care according to world standards of so-called disaster medicine.