Road crashes are disproportionately high in Africa compared to other regions of the world. The continent loses annually over 300,000 people through road crashes, even though its countries are witnessing the lowest levels of motorization in the world. Africa is the most affected by road crashes, with a traffic fatality rate of 19.5 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 16 deaths per 100,000 in Southeast Asia, and 6.5 deaths per 100,000 in Europe. Thirty-eight percent of all African road traffic fatalities occur among pedestrians while 43 percent occur among car occupants. These average figures mask the wide variation among countries on the continent with many of them recording a higher share of pedestrian deaths as a percentage of total deaths. For instance, up to 46 percent of road traffic deaths in Kenya occur among pedestrians. Motorized 2-3 wheelers and cyclists account for 7 percent and 5 percent of Africa’s traffic deaths respectively. A significant proportion of road fatalities on the continent occur in urban areas.
It is expected that the ongoing improvement of the quality and coverage of Africa’s roads will increase crashes on the continent if it is not accompanied by appropriate road safety measures. This has a huge financial implication as Africa may be losing all its investment in road infrastructure through crashes that are estimated to cost 1-2 percent of the GDP of countries. Indeed, this may be as high as 5 percent in countries such as Uganda. From another perspective, savings through improved road safety could significantly close Africa’s infrastructure financing gap, estimated to be between $137 billion–$177 billion a year.
