…crashes still kill 1.16 million yearly as WHO urges tougher laws, safer roads
By Chioma Obinna
A new data released by the World Health Organisation, WHO, on Tuesday revealed that road traffic deaths have fallen by 21 per cent globally over the past 15 years despite a surge in the number of vehicles on the world’s roads even as WHO warned that the gains remain fragile as Africa continues to witness rising fatalities.
The report showed that road traffic deaths declined between 2011 and 2025 even as more than one billion additional vehicles were added to global roads. However, road crashes still claimed an estimated 1.16 million lives in 2025, making them one of the world’s leading public health threats.
The report comes as member states adopted new United Nations General Assembly declaration committing countries to accelerate efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of cutting road deaths and serious injuries by 50 per cent by 2030, using 2021 as the baseline.
