- By: Zahida Siyal
Road crashes in Pakistan have emerged as a silent public health emergency, claiming thousands of lives every year while receiving far less attention than they deserve. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 28,000 people died due to road crashes in 2021, accounting for 2.2% of all deaths in the country. Yet the alarming reality becomes even more complicated when compared with national statistics, which report only about 5,000 deaths, and the Global Burden of Disease study, which estimates around 38,000 fatalities. This wide discrepancy highlights serious flaws in Pakistan’s crash data systems, making it difficult to understand the true scale of the crisis and hindering the country’s ability to design effective policies.
Globally, road crashes kill around 1.19 million people every year and injure between 20 and 50 million more. These crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29 years. Low- and middle-income countries, including Pakistan, suffer the most, accounting for 92% of global road deaths despite owning only about 60% of the world’s vehicles. Road crashes drain national economies, costing most countries nearly 3% of their GDP. This economic burden is particularly devastating for Pakistan, where many families lose their primary breadwinners, and the cost of treatment and long-term care pushes households into deeper poverty.
Pakistan’s road safety situation becomes even more troubling when viewed through demographic and infrastructure data. Pedestrians are especially vulnerable, making up 41% of all road deaths in 2021—far higher than the Asia-Pacific average of 31%. Children under 14 and older adults over 65 together represent nearly one-third of total fatalities. Men are three times more likely to be killed in road crashes than women. These patterns indicate that those with the least protection—children, the elderly, low-income individuals, and pedestrians—bear the heaviest burden of unsafe roads.
The condition of Pakistan’s road infrastructure intensifies these risks. According to the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), only 1% of roads in the country meet the minimum three-star safety standard for pedestrians, and only 7% meet this standard for bicyclists. For motorcyclists, only 15% of roads are considered acceptably safe. The situation for vehicle occupants is slightly better but still insufficient, with only 24% of roads meeting basic safety benchmarks. These figures fall significantly below regional averages and reflect years of underinvestment, poor planning, and inadequate maintenance. With nearly 102 fatalities per thousand kilometers of road, Pakistan ranks among the most dangerous countries in the region for road users.
Human behavior and weak enforcement also play a major role in this crisis. Speeding remains one of the most common causes of fatal crashes, with even small increases in speed sharply raising the risk of death. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, although often underreported, continues to threaten road users, with amphetamine use making drivers five times more likely to be involved in fatal crashes. The non-use of helmets, seat belts, and child restraints further contributes to the high number of preventable deaths, particularly among motorcyclists, who form a large share of daily commuters. Distracted driving, especially the use of mobile phones, has become an increasingly common danger, reducing reaction times and increasing the likelihood of collisions.
The design of roads also fails to account for pedestrians and vulnerable users. Many roads lack basic safety features such as footpaths, safe crossings, cycling lanes, and speed-calming measures, forcing people to navigate traffic in extremely unsafe conditions. Post-crash care remains another major weakness. Delays in detecting and responding to crashes often turn survivable injuries into fatal ones. Access to trauma centres, trained emergency personnel, and well-equipped ambulances is limited, especially in rural areas, where many victims die before reaching medical help. Additionally, traffic laws are weakly enforced, and public awareness of safety rules remains low. Even where laws exist, inconsistent implementation and minimal penalties lead to widespread disregard for rules such as helmet use, seat belt requirements, and speed limits.
The United Nations General Assembly, through Resolution A/RES/74/299, has called on all nations to reduce global road crash deaths and injuries by half by 2030. For Pakistan, achieving this goal will require urgent reforms at multiple levels—improving data collection systems, redesigning roads to priorities pedestrians and cyclists, enforcing traffic laws more strictly, ensuring vehicle manufacturers follow international safety standards, and strengthening emergency care networks. Public education campaigns are also essential for changing unsafe behaviors and building a culture of road safety.
Pakistan’s road crash epidemic is not an inevitable outcome of development but a preventable tragedy rooted in poor planning, weak enforcement, and limited public awareness. Each life lost represents not only a personal and family tragedy but also a national loss that undermines economic growth and social stability. To protect future generations, road safety must become a national priority. The solutions are known, the evidence is clear, and the cost of inaction is far too high. The time to act is now, before more lives are needlessly lost on Pakistan’s dangerous roads.