As the world marks the 8th United Nations (UN) Global Road Safety Week, under the theme “Make walking and cycling safe,” the World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a new toolkit to help governments promote active mobility- by making it safer.
Each year, nearly 1.2 million people lose their lives on the roads, more than a quarter of them while walking or cycling. Yet, only 0.2% of the roads worldwide are equipped with cycle lanes, and far too many communities lack basics like sidewalks or safe pedestrian crossings.
Despite their benefits, fewer than one-third of countries have national policies to promote walking and cycling. WHO’s new toolkit aims to fill that gap with practical, evidence-based guidance for policymakers, urban planners, health advocates and civil society.
The toolkit calls for bold action, including integrating walking and cycling into transport, health, environmental and education policies; building safe infrastructure like sidewalks, crossings and protected cycle lanes and setting and enforcing safer speed limits aligned with global best practices.
It also calls for promoting safe road use through public awareness and behaviour change campaigns, and using financial incentives to encourage active mobility.
“Walking and cycling improve health and make cities more sustainable. Every step and every ride help to cut congestion, air pollution and disease,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “But we must make walking and cycling safe, so more people choose these healthier, greener options.”
While global pedestrian deaths dropped slightly and cyclist deaths plateaued between 2011 and 2021, regional trends show growing danger in the WHO South-East Asia Region (pedestrian deaths rose by 42%), in the European Region (cyclist deaths surged by 50%) and in the Western Pacific Region (cyclist deaths soared by 88%).
This week, WHO joins hundreds of organizations and governments worldwide to demand urgent action on road safety. The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety is mobilizing over 400 member organizations in 100 countries to support the campaign.
“It is urgent to make, what should be our most natural means of transport, safer. This is paramount for road safety, but also health, equity and climate,” said Etienne Krug, Director of the WHO Department for the Social Determinants of Health. “We’re calling on all sectors – transport, health, education and beyond – to make walking and cycling safe and accessible for everyone.”
The importance of promoting safe walking and cycling has been underlined in consecutive UN General Assembly resolutions. Both A/74/L.86 (2020) and A/RES/78/290 (2024) urge Member States to adopt a safe system approach that strengthens laws, infrastructure and planning to protect pedestrians and cyclists and promote walking, cycling and public transport as integral parts of an optimal mix of motorized and non-motorized mobility, thereby reducing traffic deaths, injuries and related noncommunicable diseases, especially in urban areas.
The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 and the Strategic action framework to strengthen road safety systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region propose evidence-based cost-effective measures for country-level implementation to ensure that walking and cycling are safe for all and an integral part of multimodal transport systems, fully incorporated into relevant development initiatives.
