The Global status report on road safety 2018, launched by WHO in December 2018, highlights that the number of annual road traffic deaths has reached 1.35 million. Road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of people aged
5-29 years. The burden is disproportionately borne by pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, in particular those living in developing countries. The report suggests that the price paid for mobility is too high, ... Drastic action is needed to put these measures in place to meet any future global target that might be set and save lives.
Three Primary Sources of Data were Used in the Development of this Report:
1) data collected from the self-administered surveys for which responses were received from 175 Member States;
2) data collected through publicly accessible databases, including the UN Economic Commission for Europe database on road traffic conventions, government websites, as well as specialised entities such as the Global New Car Assessment Programme and road inspection data collected by the International Road Assessment Programme to measure the level of safety for different road users; and
3) Global Health Estimates generated by the WHO Department for Information, Evidence and Research.
For this report, 2018 data were used for the review of vehicle standards; 2017 data were used for the review of legislation, road standards and post-crash care; fatality estimates were based on data from 2016
Key Figures
- 1.35 million deaths each year
- 8th leading cause of death for people of all ages
- 3 times higher death rates in low-income countries than in high-income countries
- #1 cause of death for children and young
The rates of road traIfic are high in Africa (26.6/100,000 people) and South-East Asia (20.7/100,000 people).
Globally, pedestrians and cyclists represent 26%, comprising another 28%. Car occupants make up 29% of all deaths
Africa has the highest proportion of pedestrian and cyclist mortalities with 44% of deaths