Road Traffic Safety Needs in Low-Resource Settings

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Fall 2021 According to the WHO, road traffic incidents cause the deaths of 1.3 million people globally each year, with 93% of fatalities occurring in low- and middle- income countries and an additional 20-50 million people sustaining non-fatal injuries from incidents. Specifically in Ethiopia and Ghana, pedestrians are most affected by traffic incidents in urban areas, with roadside crash barriers meant to protect pedestrians being sparingly used, ignored, expensive, and even stolen. Our team hopes to determine a way to redesign crash barriers to reduce the impact of collisions and reduce the rate of crash barriers stolen in Ethiopia and Ghana.