Motor vehicle crashes leading cause of road injury cases, deaths in 2023 globally: Study

Motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of road injury cases and deaths globally in 2023, causing 19.8 million injuries and 518,000 deaths.

Road injuries were the leading cause of death among young people ages 10-39 and the second-leading cause among children ages 5-9 in 2023.

Mortality rates from road injuries were nearly six times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries in 2023.

Pedestrian injuries accounted for nearly one-third of road injury deaths, while motorcyclist injuries represented 13% of cases but nearly 24% of deaths in 2023.

Global age-standardized rates of new road injury cases and deaths declined by 38.3% and 32.3% respectively from 1990 to 2023, but gains were uneven across income groups.