This research examines the evolution of the distribution across 187 countries of mortalities per 100,000, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLL) and years lived with disabilities (YLD) due to road traffic injuries between 1990 and 2010 using the distribution dynamics approach. Fatal and non-fatal burdens of road traffic injuries display contrasting external shape dynamics and intra-distribution mobility. The results show that while the shape of the global distribution of YLD due to road traffic injuries (RTIs) has become tighter over time, the cross-country distributions of mortalities, DALYs, and YLL from road crashes have become more dispersed. The implication of the results is that international efforts should make a priority of targeting the prevention of a greater spreading out of the distribution of the burden of fatal RTIs. The exchange of relative positions within the distributions is substantial, but there is no linear relationship between a country's change in its relative position for the burden of fatal and non-fatal RTI distributions. Thus, further research is needed to determine whether policy interventions dealing with the burden of fatal RTIs also alleviate the burden of non-fatal RTIs and vice versa.
