NEW DELHI: Chennai, Jaipur, Indore and Delhi are among 47 cities across the world to register the highest rate of road fatalities.The latest ‘Global Report on Urban Health’ released by the UN-Habitat and WHO says the number of persons killed per lakh population in Chennai was the second highest across the major selected cities, at 26.6, next to Fortaleza, the capital of the Brazilian state of Ceara. Jaipur ranked fourth, Indore 16th while Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore occupied 23rd, 24th and 25th positions respectively. Mumbai was in 40th position.However, the report says progress on road traffic safety is achievable with interventions to reduce speed in urban areas and convenient public transportation."Today’s Chennai could be tomorrow’s Stockholm,” it says. The Swedish capital reported only 0.7 death per one lakh population. Sweden has set the ambitious target of zero fatality.Highlighting how cities, which are the hub of economic activities, need to step up to reduce traffic crashes and deaths, the report mentions that currently 26% of road traffic deaths occur among cyclists and pedestrians and in some cities it is as high as 75%. “In a study of road traffic accidents in Indian cities, the research found that pedestrians and bicyclists accounted for at least 44% of road traffic fatalities, but ranged as high as 60% in Mumbai,” it said.The report also mentions how road traffic injuries have emerged as the eighth leading cause of death in the world and they are also the number one killer of people in the age group of 15–29 years. The last road accident report of India in 2014 showed how about 75,000 deaths, which is 54% of the total fatalities on Indian roads, were in the age group of 15 and 35 years.It projects total number of motorised vehicles to cross 1.6 billion in the next 20 years. “Most of the increase will be in Asian countries, especially China and India. Within countries, as incomes rise, cities tend to sprawl more, while rising incomes for people are associated with increased vehicle travel,” the report said.The number of vehicles across the globe was only 63 million in 2012.