Road safety worldwide

Every year, road accidents cause 1.35 million deaths worldwide, or 3,500 deaths per day, including 500 children. This figure has stopped growing since 2007, and has even decreased slightly (-4%), despite the increase in motorization and population growth worldwide. Every year, up to 50 million people are injured. However, 2020 was a special year for road safety, as the Coivd-19 pandemic led to a significant drop in the number of road fatalities.

Road accidents are the eighth leading cause of death for all ages, and the first for young people aged 5 to 29. More than half of those killed on the roads are vulnerable road users. More than 90% of road deaths and injuries occur in low- and middle-income countries, which account for only 60% of registered vehicles. The proportion of pedestrians can reach two thirds of fatalities in these countries.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the decade 2011-2020 as "Decade of Action for Road Safety". In 2015, among the Sustainable Development Goals, targets 3.6 and 11.2 were set: to halve the number of road deaths and injuries by the end of 2020 and to ensure access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems by 2030. In February 2020, the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety was held in Stockholm. The Stockholm Declaration marked an important step forward in the fight for road safety by calling, among other things, for a general speed limit of 30 km/h on mixed-use roads and the widespread implementation of the "safe system" principles. In August, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/74/299 "Improving global road safety". This important document sets a new target for the international community to reduce road fatalities by 50% by 2030, which is the main objective of the new "Decade of Road Safety 2021-30".

road safety worldwide