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Traffic collisions are rated as some of the top causes of death around the world, with global statistics stating that 1.19 million deaths by collisions occurred in 2021, according to the WHO’s 2023 Global Status Report on Road Safety.
While we often work on ways to improve road safety for everyone, there are many cities that still struggle with high accident numbers.
Mumbai, India
It comes as no surprise that India’s largest city would be home to some of the highest car accident-related numbers in the world. In April of this year, the BBC noted that a car accident death occurs every 3 minutes a day across the country.
In 2023, over 172,000 people died due to car accidents, including 10,000 children and 35,000 pedestrians.
The Times of India also shared that there was a “34% rise in road crashes” and a “4% increase in the number of fatalities” when comparing the 2023 and 2022 numbers in Mumbai alone.
The city reported 2,533 crashes and 384 fatalities. Most of these crashes are said to have happened during nighttime and often due to speeding.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
According to the Asian Transport Observatory, Mongolia saw a total of 400 fatalities due to road traffic accidents, making up over 2% of deaths in the country.
While we don’t have exact numbers on the number of crashes within the city itself, the country’s capital has undergone rapid urbanization since the 1990s, growing around 4% each year between 2001 and 2014.
Lagos, Nigeria
In some good news, road traffic crashes in this city decreased by almost 19% between 2023 and 2024, but over 2,400 were still recorded. Within this crash data, it’s noted that 1,076 males were killed due to car accidents, while over 5,800 were injured.
Karachi, Pakistan
Karachi is the capital city of the province of Sindh, and is the 12th-largest city in the world. The India Tribune noted that the city has witnessed over 530 traffic deaths this year alone, with many of these accidents involving heavy vehicles.
The city ranks the 4th highest traffic accident fatalities worldwide, while the country as a whole ranks 48th, according to a 2022 report. It also states that almost 1.35 million people have died each year within the country as a whole.
Bogotá, Colombia
Colombia’s capital is also no stranger to a large number of traffic-related deaths. A 2024 analysis of traffic data revealed that there have been almost 175,000 police-reported collisions within the city between 2015 and 2019.
Of this large number, pedestrians make up a quarter of all road traffic injuries and half of road traffic deaths. The total number of individuals involved in accidents during this time period was almost 375,000.
