Ending Road Deaths
Every year about 1.16 million people die in road crashes, which makes it the leading cause of death for everyone aged 5 to 29. More than half of them are walking, cycling or riding motorcycles, and over 90 percent of the deaths happen in poorer countries. We already know much of what works: slower speeds where people and cars meet, roads with barriers and safe crossings, helmets, seat belts and cars with emergency braking. Sweden has cut deaths by more than half since 1997, yet no country has reached zero. The hard part is doing all of this everywhere, quickly, with limited money, and making cars that do not make human mistakes.
Open in the interactive tree →Road crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 5 to 29, and more than half of those killed are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. The tools are known: lower speeds, roads that forgive mistakes, helmets and belts, and safer cars. Sweden began its Vision Zero programme in 1997; deaths there fell from 541 to 192 in 2021 but have hardly improved since 2013.
As of now
WHO reported on 20 July 2026 that road crashes killed 1.16 million people in 2025; the global death rate per population fell 21% from 2011 to 2025 while motorcycles more than tripled in number, and motorcyclists are now nearly a third of deaths. In the decade to 2021 deaths fell 36% in the WHO European Region but rose 17% in the African Region. The UN General Assembly adopted a progress declaration on road safety alongside the release; the target is to halve deaths and serious injuries by 2030 compared with 2021. Waymo reports 95% fewer serious-injury crashes than a human benchmark over about 271 million driverless miles to June 2026, in a few mapped cities.
What is missing
- Safe-system road upgrades (barriers, crossings, separated paths) on the roads where most people die, mostly in low- and middle-income countries
- Speed limits and enforcement that are actually applied where people and traffic mix
- Helmets that are worn and safer designs for the fast-growing number of motorcycles
- The same minimum vehicle safety (emergency braking, stability control, airbags) in cars sold in every market
- Money and political will: progress stalled in Sweden after 2013 and deaths rose in the African Region
Becomes possible once solved
- Children and young people stop dying on roads in large numbers
- Walking, cycling and riding a motorcycle without a high risk of death
- Hospitals and emergency services relieved of crash injuries
- Mobility in fast-growing cities without a death toll
Open steps
- Safe Roads Where Most People Die Medium AI leverageRate and upgrade the most dangerous roads to a safe-system standard with median barriers, roundabouts, safe crossings and separated paths, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.
- Motorcycle Riders and Walkers Protected Low AI leverageCut the roughly one third of road deaths that are motorcyclists, and protect pedestrians, with helmets that are worn, separated paths and lower speeds where people mix.
- Road Speeds a Crash Can Survive Medium AI leverageSet and enforce speed limits that match what the road and the human body can survive, using cameras and in-car speed assistance.
- Same Safety in Every Car Sold Low AI leverageRequire emergency braking, stability control and airbags in cars sold in all markets, not only in Europe, Japan, Australia and North America.
- Driver Errors Engineered Out Medium AI leverageShow over billions of kilometres, with independent data, that driver assistance and driverless cars cause far fewer deaths than human drivers, and extend them beyond a few mapped cities.
Where today's AI could help
Medium AI leverage. AI can rate roads from imagery, spot phone use and cut driver error, but building safer roads, setting speed limits and enforcing helmets are matters of money and politics.
- Code road features from street-level imagery in days instead of months to target safety upgrades
- Detect phone use, missing helmets and speeding with cameras for enforcement
- Improve emergency braking and driver assistance, and driverless driving software
- Find crash hotspots in phone, vehicle and hospital data
Shown so far
- A pilot in New South Wales in early 2019 screened about 8.5 million vehicles with AI cameras for phone use; only images flagged as likely offences went to human reviewers. source
- A vendor-reported pilot in Kenya coded 138 km of roads for iRAP star ratings in about 7 days with AI, against 2.5-3 months by hand. source
- Waymo reports 95% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes than a human benchmark over about 271 million rider-only miles to June 2026 (company data). source
Prerequisites
- Motorways & Interstates1924-1956Roads built so that common mistakes are survivable
- United Nations1945The UN sets the global target and Decade of Action
- Seat Belts, Airbags & Crash Safety1959Belts and airbags cut deaths but did not end them
- Robotaxis in Daily Service2020–2026Driverless cars remove the driver error behind most crashes
Unlocks
- Roads Without Deaths2050s?