Of the children injured or killed on the roads worldwide each year, 38% are pedestrians.
3 May 2015 – Every four minutes a child is prematurely lost on the roads of this world; more than 500 children every day. Many more are injured, often severely.
For adolescents aged 15–17 road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death worldwide, with boys accounting for nearly twice as many road traffic deaths as girls.
The third United Nations Global Road Safety Week from 4 to 10 May 2015, under the theme of "Children and road safety", seeks to highlight the plight of children on the world’s roads and generate action to better ensure their safety. This year's event, organized within the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, contributes to achievement of the global decade goal of saving 5 million lives across the world.
Regional burden
About 14% of global road traffic deaths among children occur in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Road traffic injuries and related deaths among children pose a serious problem for all countries in the Region, regardless of their level of income.
The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region ranks second highest after the African Region in terms of road traffic death rate among children in low-and middle-income countries. Against a global trend, high-income countries in the Region have the highest road traffic death rate among children compared with countries of similar income across the world ― a rate more than double the global rate for high-income countries.
10 strategies for keeping children safe on the road
Effective interventions exist to improve the safety of children on the roads, through a comprehensive safe system approach. The new WHO document “10 strategies for keeping children safe on the road” presents the 10 strategies that are best known – especially when implemented as a package of measures – to keep children safe on the roads.
Global plan
“The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety” highlights what is needed to improve road safety for everyone. It recommends proven actions and measures under 5 distinct categories or pillars. These include: building road safety management capacity; improving the safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks; producing safer vehicles; enhancing the safety of road users through enacting and enforcing legislation around key risks, such as speeding, drinking and driving, helmets, seat-belts and child restraints behaviour of road users; and improving post-crash emergency and trauma care for the injured.
Related links
Flyer: Children and Road Safety | Arabic
10 strategies for keeping children safe on the road
Infographic: 10 strategies for keeping children safe on the road
United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/68/269. Improving global road safety, 29 April 2014
