Global Road Traffic Fatalities Reach 1.34 Million in 2023, El Salvador Reports Rising Death Toll

An international study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington and the National University of Singapore found that traffic accidents caused 1.34 million deaths and 75.3 million years of healthy life lost in 2023. High‑income nations cut road‑traffic mortality by more than 60% since 1990, while low‑ and middle‑income countries saw little or no improvement, largely due to weak enforcement of safety rules such as helmet and seat‑belt use and inadequate emergency medical response.

In El Salvador, the National Road Safety Observatory recorded 845 deaths and 9,134 injuries from 13,219 collisions between January and July 2024, a 9 % rise in fatalities and a 23 % increase in injuries compared with the same period a year earlier. The surge is attributed mainly to driver distraction, lane invasions and failure to keep safe following distances. Civil‑society group Luchemos por la Vida highlighted the country's traffic‑mortality rate as eleven times higher than that of nations with strong road‑safety records.