Up to 1000 people could be losing their lives on Papua New Guinea roads every year according to a safety advocate there.
The Deputy Director of the National Road Safety Council Wilson Wariaka says more needs to be done to address the startling accident rate.
Mr Wariaka says according to a World Health Organisation formula the total social cost of accidents in PNG is around US$76 million a year.
He says more than US$5.5 million of that is accident insurance payouts.
But Mr Wariaka says due to the cultural compensation the real accident rate could be much higher than those figures indicate.
"They settle things out of court and they don't require, they agree not to put things into report and we think it could be higher. Maybe around, (700), to 1000. That could be. I am just guessing but according to the reports we have it's between 300 and 500."
