A Decade of Saving Lives Through Road Safety Investments

2 April 2024

Over the past decade, the World Bank has supported various partner countries in improving road safety. The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), a multi-donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank, has been instrumental in catalyzing much of the World Bank’s road safety investments. These investments have seen significant results achieved, including providing 65 million people with access to safer roads between mid-2018 and mid-2023; 10,000 kilometers (km) of roads rehabilitated, rebuilt, and rendered safer via GRSF-funded road safety assessments between 2010 and 2019; and thousands of fatalities and injuries prevented.

Key Achievements

• An estimated 65 million people were provided with access to safer roads between mid-2018 and mid-2023 through World Bank-financed projects.
• Between 2010 and 2019, 10,000 km of roads built or rehabilitated with World Bank support achieved significant safety gains after incorporating recommendations from GRSF-funded safety assessments.
• 270 fatalities and serious injuries were prevented in Nepal as a result of crash barriers installed between 2015 and 2017 through the World Bank-supported Road Safety Support Project. Extrapolating the trend, the project could save over 3,400 lives during the lifetime of the investment.
• Between 2013 and 2022, Iraq recorded a 81 percent reduction in annual road crash fatalities—from a baseline of 113 to an actual value at project closing of 21—along two major traffic corridors due to road safety improvements under the World Bank-financed Transport Corridors Project.
• Between 2015 and 2021, Tanzania recorded a 79 percent reduction in road traffic fatalities —from 33 to 7—along the project corridor of the World Bank-financed Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Improvement Project (phase 1).
•  From 2013 to 2022, Albania recorded 68 fewer annual fatalities on primary and primary-secondary roads—a 23 percent reduction—as a result of the World Bank-financed Results-based Road Maintenance and Safety Project.
• Nearly 22,000 professionals were trained on road safety between 2015 and 2023. Knowledge imparted in these trainings has been used by local transport officials to perform road safety audits and implement life-saving road safety interventions.