Travelling on Africa’s roads comes with many challenges. The biggest is arriving at your destination safely. The continent is one of the hotspots of global road trauma. Its traffic deaths account for about one quarter of the global number of victims, despite having less than 4% of the world’s vehicle fleet.
The situation in sub-Saharan Africa is particularly dire. Road crashes affect this region more than any other in the world. Its road fatality rate of 27 per 100,000 people is three times higher than Europe’s average of 9 and well above the global average of 18.
Then there’s Africa’s road infrastructure. Despite recent rising investments in road developments, the quality of roads in many African countries is generally low. This has been captured in research reports, the World Economic Forum’s surveys and the International Monetary Fund’s cross-country road quality ranking.
