Road Safety in Maldives: How We Can Do Better

Road safety is a universal constant in every nation on the planet. 

When it comes to Maldives, the island nation is experiencing an influx in road accidents due to increasing car ownership, overcrowding, increased rate of urbanisation, and careless driving.

2025 is seeing a tragically high number of road accidents in Maldives, with almost 2,000 traffic accidents (1,888 to be exact at the time of writing of 25th August) having occurred in the first 7 months of the year:

There were 1,727 traffic accidents from January until July, with 161 from 1st August to 25th August. As has been confirmed via the Police Media Official, a total of 61 fatalities via road accidents have been reported this year.

In just the last few months, Maldives has seen many traffic accident related fatalities quite close to each other, with some of the fatalities being minors. No lives should be lost in such events, much less such young ones who have much to live for.

Below are just some of the fatalities that occurred:

On 22nd September, it was reported that 44 accidents occurred on the bridge and highway between September 14 and 20, as per the Police.

When the Police Media Official was asked what sort of measures they are taking, will take or are in the pipeline to be implemented for road safety and for the safety of Maldivian civilians and residents, their response was as follows:

While local authorities are making solid efforts to counteract the rising traffic accidents, even more can be done in service to the public. The following a policy which became law through their parliament, while the rest is either an initiative, a collection of best practices, a holistic framework and a policy recommendation . It should be noted that effort should also be seen from relevant parties if these are to become a reality. At the very least, to try and bring fatalities down to a minimum or at the very best, to bring fatalities down to zero in Maldives. 

Traffic accidents aren’t exclusive just to Maldives: many other countries experience them on much larger scales. The difference is that a lot of countries started combating traffic related accidents and have been doing so for years now.

Below are some of these initiatives that Maldives can learn from and implement to combat traffic accidents and enhance road safety.

Vision Zero is a Swedish policy that was introduced to the public in 1995 and put into their Road Traffic Safety Bill three years after it was conceived. Its safety philosophy and foundation has three fundamental principles:

As per the Trafikverket (Swedish Transport Administration) website, they have also outlined some important measures that can be utilized for safe road traffic:

The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BPIGRS) partners with various governments and international organizations where they have five key areas as their backbone in improving road safety and saving lives:

SUPREME is the European Union’s effort in collecting, analysing, summarising and publishing the best practices in the Member States of the European Union, including Switzerland and Norway. 

The aim of SUPREME was to “encourage the adoption of successful road safety strategies and measures, with the intention of this project being to contribute to the EU’s target of a 50% reduction in road fatalities in 2010.”

The research paper saw them identifying the best, good and promising practices for various road safety approaches, some of which could be used in Maldives as well, such as:

While the initiative did not come to be implemented in Spain, this might still be a promising route for Maldives to take.

The Safe System Approach took inspiration from Sweden’s Vision Zero, along with the Dutch Sustainable Safety road safety visions and objectives. The approach also has a similar unifying aim, which is that the loss of life or lifelong injury due to road accidents are unacceptable and should be brought to a minimum or down to zero.

As per the Federal Highway Administration, the following are the principles and key elements of the Safe System Approach:

Elements of the Safe System Approach:

The International Transport Forum, produced with WHO support, released the Policy Recommendation on Comprehensive Road Safety Policy on 22nd May 2025 at the International Transport Forum (ITF) Summit in Leipzig, Germany.

The policy urges governments to adopt evidence-based, safety-focused, well-coordinated and inclusive road safety approaches that best fit each location and to focus on where the most lives can be saved.

Simplified and in point form, it talks about 8 key areas:

While it will be difficult to implement due to financial, logistical and various other challenges, Maldives can start small and see where it can go from there.