Global Progress in Road Injury Mortality since 2010

We aimed to examine progress in global road injury mortality since the initiation of Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. We examined annual percent changes in age-adjusted road traffic mortality using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Association between changes in road traffic mortality and legislative efforts in individual nations was explored using data from Global Status Reports on Road Safety 2013 and 2015. We found that global age-adjusted mortality, both overall and for user-specific road traffic injuries, decreased significantly between 2010 and 2013 (annual percent change in rates range from -1.43% to -0.99%). Developed countries witnessed a larger decrease than developing countries in both overall and user-specific road mortality (about 2.0–4.6 times). However, there were substantial disparities within developed countries and within developing countries, with some countries seeing large reductions in mortality rates and others seeing none. The annual percent change in road traffic mortality during 2010–2013 was significantly correlated with total national law enforcement score (Spearman r(s) = -0.38). We concluded that results highlight the need for continued effort to reduce the burden of road injury mortality, especially in LMIC countries.