Road Safety and Economic Development in Cameroon: An Analysis of the Kuznets Curve

This article analyses the situation of road safety in Cameroon and its relationship with the country's level of economic development. The approach of Kuznets (1955) is applied to road accidents in Cameroon over a period from 1977 to 2016. The article identifies a Kuznets relationship for road accidents. The results of the analysis show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between road accidents and GDP per capita in Cameroon. The results of the analysis show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between road accidents and GDP per capita in Cameroon. Precisely the improvement of living conditions has first of all a negative impact on road safety up to a certain point called the inflection point which corresponds to a growth rate of GDP per capita between 7 and 8%, from this point on the improvement of living conditions positively influences road safety.

Keywords: road insecurity, economic development, Kuznets curve, economic development, Cameroon