Written by: Dr. Gabrielle Grixti Galdes
9th November 2026
When we think about road safety, our minds often turn first to the aftermath of a road traffic collision: an ambulance arriving at the scene, an emergency department receiving an injured patient, a long period of rehabilitation after serious trauma, or, tragically, a life lost. Yet one of the central questions in public health is not only how we respond when something goes wrong, but how we can prevent it from happening in the first place.
Road traffic injuries are a major public health issue. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 1.16 million people die on the world’s roads every year, with many more sustaining injuries that can have lifelong consequences. More than half of road traffic deaths occur among vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists [1].
The impact extends far beyond the moment of collision. Serious injuries may lead to disability, loss of independence, prolonged rehabilitation, psychological distress, loss of employment and consequences for families who suddenly become carers. There is also a considerable burden on emergency, acute and rehabilitation services and on society more broadly, including increased demands on social welfare and disability support systems, and substantial long-term healthcare expenditure. At a community level, road traffic injuries can deepen social and economic inequalities, place sustained pressure on families and informal care networks, and result in the loss of valuable contributions that affected individuals would otherwise make to society.
This human cost is also visible locally. In 2025, 18 people lost their lives on Malta’s roads, while more than 1,100 injury accidents were reported [2]. Each statistic represents a person, their family and a community affected by an event that, in many cases, may have been preventable.
Prevention begins before anyone gets behind the wheel
Traditional road safety messaging understandably focuses on individual behaviour: do not drink and drive, wear a seatbelt, slow down and avoid distraction. These remain essential. However, public health encourages us to look further upstream.
The Safe System approach, which underpins the European Union’s road safety strategy, starts from a simple premise: human beings will make mistakes, and the transport system should be designed so that those mistakes do not result in death or serious injury. It therefore considers safe speeds, safe roads and roadsides, safe vehicles, safe road users and effective post-crash care together, rather than in isolation. The EU’s longer term Vision Zero ambition is to move towards close to zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050 [3].
This moves responsibility beyond any one pedestrian, cyclist or driver. It asks us to consider the environments in which people are being asked to make those choices.
We can think about prevention at several levels. At the individual level, there are behaviours such as speeding, distracted driving, helmet and seatbelt use and decisions around active travel. At a community level, there are factors such as pavement quality, safe crossings, cycle infrastructure, school environments, lighting and access to reliable public transport. At the macro level, national transport, planning and health policies influence how easy, or difficult, it is for people to choose safer and healthier ways of moving around.
Designing movement around people
This wider perspective also means looking at our relationship with the private car.
Short term financial measures such as offering money to give up one’s driving license may arguably reduce the number of cars on the road, but financial incentives alone cannot address the underlying conditions that determine how people travel. Long term improvement requires investment in a transport system that gives people realistic, safe and convenient alternatives to relying on a private car for every journey.
Public transport is part of this picture, but perhaps not in the way we traditionally think about it. A bus journey often includes walking or wheeling (using wheeled mobility aids) at either end, meaning that better public transport can support active mobility rather than simply replace one form of motorised travel with another. The WHO highlights this wider relationship between transport and health, noting that a shift from private motorised transport towards public transport can not only increase physical activity, but also help reduce air pollution, congestion and traffic injury risk [4].
Malta’s current transport planning direction similarly recognises the importance of integrating different modes of travel, including the bus network, walking and cycling, rather than considering each separately [5].
Physical activity should be part of everyday life
There is also an important connection between road safety and the prevention of noncommunicable diseases.
Being physically active should not depend entirely on having the time, resources or ability to attend a gym. Walking to work, cycling for a short journey, walking to a bus stop or allowing children to travel actively to school can all build movement into everyday life.
WHO describes walking, cycling and wheeling as accessible forms of physical activity with benefits for cardiovascular health, mental health and the prevention of noncommunicable diseases. Crucially, however, people need environments in which they feel able to do these things safely [6].
This is particularly important for those who may have fewer transport choices: children, older people, people with disabilities, pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users. A healthy transport system should enable physical activity for everyone, rather than making active travel the easier choice only for those who are confident enough to navigate an unsafe environment.
This principle is already reflected in Malta’s Health-Enhancing Physical Activity Strategy 2025-2030, which recognises the importance of creating environments that support physical activity and a shift towards sustainable modes such as walking, cycling and public transport [7]. It also complements the broader emphasis on physical inactivity and environmental determinants of health within Malta’s Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention Framework 2025-2035 [8].
Road safety, therefore, is about much more than preventing collisions. It is connected to how we design communities, how we move, how physically active we are, how independently people can participate in society and ultimately how healthy our population can be.
Turning remembrance into prevention
The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, observed every November, honours those who have died or been seriously injured on the world’s roads and the families whose lives have been changed as a result. It also calls for evidence based action to prevent further deaths and injuries [9].
This aligns closely with the vision of Doctors for Road Safety Malta: zero road traffic deaths [10].
Remembrance matters. But from a public health perspective, perhaps one of the most meaningful ways we can honour those already affected is to work towards a future in which fewer families experience the same loss.
The safest road traffic collision is the one that never happens.
This blogpost is part of the RISPETT Campaign, an initiative by Doctors for Road Safety (D4RS) running from November 9 to November 15 2026 to mark the Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims. For more information visit their social media pages and website.
Campaign details can be found here:
References:
- World Health Organization. Road traffic injuries. 20 July 2026. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries
- National Statistics Office, Malta. Road Traffic Accidents. Transport Statistics Hub. Last updated 9 October 2026. https://nso.gov.mt/transport-hub-road-traffic-accidents/
- European Commission, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport. Road safety: European Commission sets out next steps towards “Vision Zero” including key performance indicators. 19 June 2019. https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/road-safety-european-commission-sets-out-next-steps-towards-vision-zero-including-key-performance-2019-06-19_en
- World Health Organization. Strategies for healthy and sustainable transport. https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/healthy-urban-environments/transport/strategies
- Transport Malta. National Transport Strategy and Transport Master Plan. National Transport Strategy 2050 and Transport Master Plan 2030. https://www.transport.gov.mt/Strategies/Strategies-Policies-Actions/National-Transport-Strategy-and-Transport-Master-Plan-1343
- World Health Organization. Promoting walking, cycling and other forms of active mobility. https://www.who.int/health-topics/physical-activity/promoting-walking-and-cycling
- Government of Malta, Ministry for Health and Active Ageing. A Strategy for Health-Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA) 2025-2030. 2025. https://superintendencepublichealth.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/HEPA-strategy-2025.pdf
- Government of Malta, Ministry for Health and Active Ageing. Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention Framework 2025-2035: Policy Framework for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases and the Promotion of Wellbeing. 2025. https://superintendencepublichealth.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/NCD-2025.pdf
- World Health Organization. World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. United Nations Road Safety Collaboration. https://www.who.int/groups/united-nations-road-safety-collaboration/world-day-of-remembrance
- Doctors for Road Safety Malta. About Us. https://doctors4roadsafety.org.mt/index.php/about-us
