Knowledge centre | French road safety observatory

Road safety worldwide

The World Health Organization (WHO) works in collaboration with Member States and partners across all sectors to support assessment, implementation, and planning in the field of road safety. As the United Nations’ lead agency for road safety, WHO plays a key role in guiding global efforts by advocating for road safety at the highest political level, compiling and sharing best practices, and raising awareness of road safety issues.

WHO serves as the secretariat for the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030), which aims to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 % by 2030. This includes establishing a global network of heads of national road safety agencies, developing global status reports to monitor progress, and providing technical assistance.

WHO also chairs the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, and, together with key partners, organizes and hosts high-level awareness-raising events such as the United Nations Global Road Safety Weeks and the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

The European Union (EU) also works closely with WHO and in support of the second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030. In 2018, the EU set the objective of halving the number of road fatalities by 2030 and, for the first time, reducing the number of serious injuries. This objective was established in the Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety and in the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021–2030 adopted by the Commission, which aims to achieve zero road fatalities by 2050 (“Vision Zero”).

Road Safety is also a central component of recent initiatives under the EU’s mobility policy, such as the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, the Commission’s proposal to revise the TEN-T Regulation, and the Urban Mobility Framework.