From Invisible to Accountable: Measuring Global Road Safety Performance

Willem Groenewald, FIA Secretary General for Automotive Mobility and Sustainability

Every day, more than 3,000 people lose their lives in road crashes, and millions more sustain serious injuries. These figures represent a significant public health challenge, yet road safety often remains overlooked in global discussions. Why? Because what isn’t measured is rarely managed.

Companies, governments, and organisations around the world track emissions, energy use, and even wellness indicators, but road safety performance has largely fallen outside the frame. This gap has left us without a common language to hold ourselves accountable, until now.

The FIA may be known as the governing body for world motorsports, including F1, but we’re making mobility safer, more affordable, and sustainable for everyone. On behalf of road users across 149 countries, we champion consumer rights, changing driving behavior at scale, and bringing life-saving motorsport safety innovations to the road.

The FIA Road Safety Index was created in 2022 with the support of the FIA Foundation to fill this void as a direct response to the Stockholm Declaration of 2020. It provides a clear, systematic way for organisations to measure their safety footprint: the real-world impact their activities and value chains have on road safety. By identifying where risks exist, the Index helps organisations set concrete targets, take meaningful action, and monitor results over time.

We know road deaths and injuries are preventable. The science, technology, and strategies already exist. What has been missing is accountability, a way to measure and compare progress consistently across organisations and countries. The FIA Road Safety Index provides that mechanism.

The methodology is straightforward but comprehensive. It asks organisations to make clear commitments, collect and report safety data, and examine their sphere of influence across supply chains and operations. Whether you are a logistics company managing a fleet of trucks, a retailer sourcing products through transport networks, or a service provider with employees on the road, the Index helps you understand and reduce the risks linked to your operations.

Road safety cannot be left to governments alone. Employers, manufacturers, service providers, and investors all play a role. By applying the FIA Road Safety Index, organisations can ensure that the people who move for them – their employees, contractors, customers, and communities, do so safely.

The Index is designed for the global market because road safety is a global problem. Worldwide the principles are the same: safer roads, safer vehicles, and safer behaviour save lives. It is a universal tool for continuous improvement and benchmarking, ensuring that safety standards rise everywhere, not just in isolated pockets.

For businesses, adopting the Index is not just about compliance or reporting. It is about leadership. It is about showing that you value the lives of your employees and customers.

With multiple organisations currently engaged with the Index, including, Amazon, Uber, Ikea, Waymo, Shell, and the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), the FIA continues to evolve and will expand from a 3 to a 5 star rating in 2026 with the assessments covering five areas: Commitment, Footprint, Planning, Monitoring of Safety Performance, and Safety Culture Management & Supply Chain Coverage.

The question is no longer whether road safety should be measured, but how quickly organisations will make it a priority.