Pedestrians & Motorcyclists Account for 45% of All Road Fatalities

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released its global status report on road safety for 2013, revealing that half of all road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

Motorcyclists experience 23 percent of all road traffic fatalities, pedestrians 22 percent and cyclists 5 percent. 31 percent of deaths occur among car occupants and the remaining 19 percent can be attributed to unspecified road users.

Interestingly, there are significant differences regarding those at risk, according to country income status. For example, a very large proportion of those killed on African roads are pedestrians, some 38 percent, while in Europe, this figure is 27 percent. Indeed, Europe is the deadliest WHO region for car occupants – exactly half of all road traffic accidents involve car occupants.

In South East Asia, this figure falls to just 15 percent. In this region, motorcycles are a vital form of transportation, a fact reflected in road fatalities. 33 percent of all road deaths in this region can be attributed to motorized two or three wheeled vehicles – just 15 percent of people that lost their lives on South East Asian roads in 2010 were car occupants.