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.
It has the world’s highest estimated road traffic fatality rate of 26.6 road deaths per 100,000 population compared to 17.0 in South-east Asia, a world average of 17.5, and 9.3 per 100,000 population 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. In Uganda, for example, 44 percent of all crashes and 19 percent of all fatalities in 2016 occurred in Kampala.