While global progress is being made on road safety, reductions in road deaths vary significantly between countries, according to data released this week.
In Australia, road trauma levels have actually increased every year over the last five years and are now higher than in 2011.
“Australia must now learn from other countries and work with urgency and focus to return to its historical position as a leader in road safety,” write public health advocates Professor Rebecca Ivers AM and Rob McInerney AO.
Rebecca Ivers and Rob McInerney write:
Road safety experts gathered for a high-level meeting in New York this week which led to calls for governments and other stakeholders to do more to improve road safety and prevent road deaths.
A new United Nations (UN) General Assembly progress declaration on road safety was released, which aims to support achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal of a 50 percent reduction in road deaths by 2030.
Although progress has been made in improving road safety globally since 2011, we are nowhere near achieving this SDG goal.
World Health Organization reports reveal that road crashes are responsible for 1.16 million deaths per year and are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years.
The burden of road deaths also remains deeply inequitable: new WHO data shows that while there has been a 21 percent reduction in road deaths since 2011, this is not equally distributed.
In Southeast Asia, there has been a two percent reduction in road deaths since 2011, while a 17 percent increase has been reported in the WHO African region.
Most progress has been made in high income settings – except for Australia, which has sadly seen an increase in road deaths from 1,291 in 2011 to 1,314 in 2025.
Globally, a rapidly urbanising population means there is also a major safety conflict between mobility demands for people as we walk and wheel, and a transport system designed for private vehicle use.
The WHO reported that 92 percent of fatalities occur in low- and middle-income countries, while no country is immune from the burden.
The declaration says sustainable transport systems – including safe walking and cycling, high-quality public road transport, safe vehicles, safe, resilient infrastructure, and appropriate speed management – are central to improving road safety.
Sustainable transport systems also contribute to public health, equity, social inclusion, economic development, resilient supply chains, climate action and environmental sustainability.
Inequities in Australia
In Australia, despite decades of improvements in road safety, there has been a year-on-year increase in road deaths since a low in 2020, with large variation in rates across the country. Inequities are evident in the burden of road deaths in Australia.
Recently released data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that in 2023-24 most road deaths were in males (78%) with a rate 3.6 times that for females.
The iRAP Safety Insights explorer also estimates the sheer scale and cost of life-changing injury on Australian roads every year.
People living in very remote areas were 2.3 times more likely to be hospitalised by a transport accident compared to those who live in major cities.
First Nations people are also 3.7 times more likely to die in a transport crash, yet road crash prevention programs in Australia that are aimed at, and led by First Nations people remain rare.
The UN declaration and WHO data provide an opportunity to reflect on what is needed globally, in Australia and the region to improve road safety and maximise amenity.
The results demonstrate that reducing road trauma is possible and Australia must now learn from other countries and work with urgency and focus to return to its historical position as a leader in road safety.
Challenges
There is growing understanding of the challenges in the changing mix of vehicle use and mobility choices, especially in urban environments.
This includes the increasing use of e-bikes and micromobility devices, the broad under-reporting of crashes involving vulnerable road users and an important need to better understand patterns and the scale of injury.
However, there are significant challenges in data quality and capacity to identify different forms of micromobility including legal and illegal e-bikes that must be addressed.
The solutions must also extend to less reliance on private vehicle use and shift to safer and more sustainable public transport modes with safe travel to and from transit hubs for pedestrians and cyclists and e-mobility users.
There is also an important need to manage the high rates of road deaths in rural settings, where a high proportion of roads are only 1 or 2-star standard for vehicles (where 5-star is the safest).
Road design standards are typically lower on these lower volume roads and speeds are often inappropriate for the conditions and need to be reduced to meet the desired global 3-star or better standard.
Ultimately, a holistic view of safe system implementation is also needed to ensure the shared responsibility for road safety is transformed into shared and optimised action by all – public, private, academic and NGOs alike.
More work is also needed on the impact of new technology in all vehicles and modes of transport as well as Intelligent Transport Systems in road infrastructure operations that can reduce crash rates.
The UN declaration is an important opportunity to raise awareness of the need to balance transport needs for all the community while improving safety and amenity. Returning home safely to loved ones is the ultimate human right.
Author details
Scientia Professor Rebecca Ivers AM is Professor of Public Health, and Deputy Dean, Global Engagement and External Education, at UNSW Sydney, and leads a global research program focusing on the prevention and management of injury. She is a director of Croakey Health Media.
Rob McInerney AO is the Chief of Future Impact for the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), a global charity dedicated to eliminating high‑risk roads and saving lives.
Further reading
- The Lancet Public Health: Global, regional, and national burden of road injuries 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
- WHO: Road deaths fall by 21% globally but stronger action is needed to save lives
See Croakey’s archive of articles on road safety
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