NEW YORK CITY — Researchers from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation conducted the study. The analysis covered road injury trends across 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023. Global age-standardized rates of new road injury cases declined by 38.3% during this period. Age-standardized rates of road injury deaths fell by 32.3% over the same timeframe.

More than 90% of road injury deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In contrast, high-income countries had a road injury mortality rate of 7.5 deaths per 100,000 people. High-income countries reported a road injury incidence rate of 858.1 cases per 100,000 people. Low-income countries experienced nearly six times the rate of years lost to premature death as high-income countries.

Road injury mortality increased in Ghana, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Armenia, Costa Rica, and the United States between 2010 and 2023. In the United States, road injury mortality rose by 13.2% during that period. Ghana saw an increase in road injury mortality between 2010 and 2023.

Road injuries were the leading cause of death globally among people aged 10 to 39 in 2023. The World Health Organization states that road injuries remain the leading cause of death among children and youth aged 5 to 29 years. Among children aged 5 to 9, road injuries were the second-leading cause of death globally in 2023. For males ages 20 to 24, road injuries accounted for over one in every five deaths globally in 2023.

Motor vehicle crashes caused 19.8 million injuries and 518,000 deaths globally in 2023. Pedestrian injuries caused nearly one-third of road injury deaths globally in 2023. Motorcyclist injuries represented 13% of road injury cases and nearly 24% of deaths globally in 2023.

Fractures accounted for more than 38% of non-fatal road injury cases globally in 2023. Head injuries occurred in roughly one in ten road injury cases worldwide in 2023.

The global economic cost of road injuries is projected to reach US$1.8 trillion over the 2015-2030 period. The World Health Organization reported that road traffic deaths declined between 2011 and 2025. Traffic crashes claimed more than 1.1 million lives globally in 2025, according to the World Health Organization.

U.S. motor vehicle traffic fatalities peaked at more than 43,000 in 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency estimated U.S. traffic fatalities fell to about 36,600 in 2025. Deaths from auto collisions in the U.S. fell 6.7% year on year, from just over 39,000 in 2024 to 36,640 in 2025.

The fatality rate on U.S. roads was 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2025. This rate was 1.19 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2024.

The Governors Highway Safety Association reported that U.S. drivers hit and killed fewer pedestrians in 2025 compared with 2024. The 2025 reduction in pedestrian deaths was the largest annual reduction since pedestrian deaths began falling three years prior. Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. in 2025 were still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The World Health Organization identified road safety as an international public health priority more than two decades ago. A two-day United Nations high-level meeting on improving global road safety began in New York City.

Liane Ong, Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said road injury outcomes are shaped not only by crashes, but by the systems designed to prevent them and protect people when they occur. Ong added that road deaths are largely preventable, but progress requires sustained investment. Reducing them requires safer infrastructure, stronger safety policies, and better emergency care, she said.

Dr. Marie Ng, Affiliate Associate Professor at IHME and Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, said road safety should be treated as a public health priority, not just a transportation issue.