Casualties on Africa’s dangerous roads

High casualty levels are being seen on Africa’s dangerous roads.
By MJ Woof August 8, 2024 Read time: 1 min
Africa’s roads have seen an increase in crashes between 2010 and 2021 – image © courtesy of Shem Oirere

Africa’s dangerous roads have seen an increase in fatalities between 2010 and 2021. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that road deaths increased 17% in Africa during this period.  

Around 20% of all road deaths in the world occur in Africa, with close to 250,000 fatalities in 2021.   

Road casualty statistics for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclist and motorcyclists are particularly worrying in Africa. The WHO data shows that deaths amongst motorcyclists doubled for the 2010-2021 period compared with the previous 10 years.  

A huge growth in the number of registered vehicles in Africa accounts for some of the rise in road deaths. The total number of four-wheeled vehicles on Africa’s roads almost doubled between 2013 and 2021, a high percentage of which were second hand and imported from elsewhere. Meanwhile, numbers of registered two- and three-wheeled vehicles tripled in the same period.

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