Road safety in Africa: a preventable public health crisis

Road traffic injuries are the leading killer of children and adults aged 5-29 years globally.1 Low and middle income countries are disproportionately represented in this statistic; Africa has the highest road crash mortality of all global regions. Increasing urbanisation and motorisation in many African countries are not yet matched by safer road infrastructure, safer vehicles, and public education on safer road use. Road traffic injuries rob these nations of their workforce and their future.

The World Health Organization status report on road safety in the African region for 2023 highlights the urgent need for concerted global action.1 Whereas recorded road deaths have decreased by 5% globally in the past decade, in Africa they have increased by 17%. The demographics of deaths also differ. In high income countries road deaths are mostly among vehicle drivers and passengers; in Africa, half of the deaths are among vulnerable road users—pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists—with pedestrians accounting for a third of all deaths. The inequality probably runs deeper since the burden of injuries, which are harder to measure, is likely to be much higher. Injuries affect ability to work, …