September 26, 2025
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Africa: Road Safety – Digital Technology to Help Prevent Accidents

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PublishedFebruary 3, 2025
Africa: Road Safety – Digital Technology to Help Prevent Accidents

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Experts explore how data-driven approaches, advanced analytics, and emerging technologies can help save lives

Despite the promise of digital revolution, road safety in Africa remains a pressing challenge. Thousands of lives are lost or affected every year due to road accidents – many of which could be prevented with better data, smarter technology and more innovative solutions.

Recognising the urgency of this crisis, experts and stakeholders from across the continent met in December 2024 to explore how digitalization and emerging technologies can improve road safety in Africa.

Also present were representatives from the African Union Commission (AUC), European Union, University of Rome, experts from African countries, and civil society organisations. They explored strategies to harness digital solutions to address road safety challenges, particularly focusing on data-driven approaches, advanced analytics, and emerging technologies.

Organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA) in collaboration with the International Road Federation (IRF), the workshop brought together key players from across the continent and beyond to rethink road safety on the continent.

With traffic fatalities soaring at an alarming rate – 19-5 deaths per 100,000 people, the highest in the world – Africa stands at a critical crossroads. Could technology provide posed by road traffic fatalities?

Robert Lisinge, Director of the Technology, Innovation, Connectivity, and Infrastructure Development Division at UN ECA, highlighted the limitations of current road safety management systems in Africa.

“Current road safety management systems in Africa predominantly depend on manual data collection, visual inspections, and subjective expert assessments, rendering them costly, time-consuming, and ineffective due to under-reporting and poor-quality data,” he said, while stressing the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other frontier technologies to revolutionize road safety management.

Philip Wijers of IRF Global painted a stark picture of the impact of road crashes on African communities.

“Africa experiences the highest incidence of road traffic fatalities, with a rate of 19.5 deaths per 100,000 individuals, compared to 16 deaths per 100,000 in Southeast Asia and 6.5 deaths per 100,000 in Europe,” he said.