More than 1.2 million people die and as many as 50 million people are injured on the world’s roads every year. In 2004, road traffic injuries were the ninth leading cause of death of the entire world population. According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report, by 2030 road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death, beating the rank of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis and resulting in an estimated 2.4 million fatalities per year. The WHO report also shows that over 90% of these deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries where 48% of the world motor vehicles are registered.

Since 2003, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted five resolutions that call on member countries, WHO and regional commissions to address the global road safety crisis.  The General Assembly called for increased attention and resources to be directed towards road safety efforts, and stressed the need for better international cooperation. The most recent of the five resolutions, resolution 62/244 on improving global road safety invited member countries to participate in projects of the regional commissions to assist low- and middle-income countries in setting national and regional road traffic casualty reduction targets.

Recent and upcoming activities:

• Expert Group Meeting on Progress in Road Safety Improvement in Asia and the Pacific, Seoul, 8-10 May 2013
• Expert Group Meeting on Progress in Road Safety Improvement in Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 27-29 September 2011 (Report of the Meeting, PDF)
• Launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, 11 May 2011
• Regional Expert Group Meeting on Implementation of Decade of Action for Road Safety, 2011-2010, Bangkok, 21-23 September 2010 (Report of the Meeting, PDF)
• Expert Group Meeting on Improving Road Safety, Bangkok, 2-4 September 2009 (Report of the Meeting, PDF)
• Expert Group Meeting on Improving Road Safety on the Asian Highway - Targets and Engineering, Bangkok, 27-29 October 2008 (Report of the Meeting, PDF)
• UN Development Account Project ("Improving Global Road safety: setting regional and national road traffic casualty reduction targets"), to start in Dec. 2007.
• Expert Group Meeting on Improving Road Safety on the Asian Highway, Bangkok, 21-22 June 2007. (Report of the Meeting, PDF). A CD with proceedings and related materials can be order from <escap-ttd "at"un.org>. The CD also includes country reports prepared for the related Regional Workshop on Upgrading of the Asian Highway Priority Routes, Bangkok, 19-21 June 2007
• Ministerial Conference on Transport, Busan, Nov. 2006.
• Expert Group Meeting on the Development of the Asian Highway Network: Regional Experiences and Lessons in Financing Highway Infrastructure and Improving Road Safety, Bangkok, 8-10 May 2006
  
• First UN Road Safety Week, April 2007