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The thin line marks today, 29 September 2026.

Road

UN Global Road Safety Week

UN Global Road Safety Week is the week WHO and the UN regional commissions call every two years or so to push one road-safety change worldwide. Governments, city authorities, police and campaign groups use it to hold events, publish evidence and press for law reform. The eighth Week, in May 2025, asked countries to make walking and cycling safe. WHO sets the dates edition by edition.

The organiser has not announced the next dates. This page will carry them as soon as World Health Organization with the UN regional commissions publishes them.

Add to your calendarJSON

When it falls

Dates are announced by the organiser each year.

Also known as: United Nations Global Road Safety Week, Global Road Safety Week.

Where it came from

The UN General Assembly asked WHO and the UN regional commissions to run periodic Global Road Safety Weeks as a platform for national and local road-safety action. The first Week was held in 2007 and was dedicated to young road users, who are the most affected by crashes. Later editions have taken a single theme each time — pedestrians in 2013, children in 2015, speed in 2017, leadership in 2019, 30 km/h streets in 2021 and walking and cycling in 2025. WHO announces the dates for each edition rather than fixing them to a calendar rule.

First observed in 2007.

The organiser’s account of the day

How organisations mark it

  • Run the Week's advocacy ask with your local council: safer crossings, lower speed limits, protected cycle lanes.
  • Use the WHO campaign toolkit and hashtags in staff briefings and school assemblies.
  • Publish your city or region's pedestrian and cyclist casualty figures with what you plan to do about them.
  • Hold a street audit with residents, walking the routes children take to school and listing the fixes needed.

Why this exists

Road & transport

1.16 millionroad traffic deaths a year

Road traffic deaths worldwide — worldwide, 2026. Source: World Health Organization, Road traffic injuries (fact sheet) (2026).

“Approximately 1.16 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.”

More figures for this hazard

ObservanceNextKindWhereHazards
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims15 November 2026 ExpectedDayWorldwideRoad
National Pedestrian Safety Month1–31 October 2026 ConfirmedMonthUnited StatesRoad
National Bike Month1–31 May 2027 ExpectedMonthUnited StatesRoadSport

Sources

  1. UN Global Road Safety Week — WHO campaigns — www.who.int, read 15 September 2026.
  2. Road safety timeline — WHO — www.who.int, read 15 September 2026.

Page last confirmed against the organiser on 15 September 2026.