The ATO road safety profiles offer insights into the road safety in 38 Asia-Pacific countries by utilizing road safety related data from various sources and policy information extracted from a range of documents.

These road safety profiles were developed by the Asian Transport Observatory in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO) and the International Road Federation (IRF). This September 2025 edition updates the February 2025 release—prepared for the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakech—to inform discussions at the Asia-Pacific Regional Road Safety Conference in Manila.

Road safety in Türkiye remains a significant public health challenge. In 2021, an estimated 5,500 fatalities occurred due to road crashes, accounting for 13th top cause of all deaths in the country. This narrative explores the current state of road safety in Türkiye, highlighting key challenges and opportunities for improvement.

There is a notable discrepancy in the data reported by different sources for Türkiye. The numbers reported by country statistics and Global Burden of Disease, for 2023 and 2021 are respectively about 5 thousand and 8 thousand fatalities. While WHO reports almost 6 thousand fatalities for 2021.

Analyzing disaggregated data provides valuable insights into specific risk groups and crash characteristics. The share of female fatalities decreased slightly from 24% in 1990 to 21% in 2021, while the combined share of minors (<14 years old) and seniors (>65 years old) in road crash fatalities remained relatively stable at about 55%. Notably, pedestrians and bicyclists constitute 25% of Türkiye's total road traffic crash fatalities, slightly exceeding the Asia-Pacific average.

The economic burden of road crashes in Türkiye is substantial. These fatalities, combined with serious injuries, cost about 17 billion USD, for 2021, which is roughly 2% of Türkiye's GDP. As a reference, in the same year, healthcare expenditure in Türkiye amounted to 5% of its GDP.

Road crashes also constitute close to 40% of the total implicit costs due to fossil fuel subsidies in transport, underscoring the interconnectedness of road safety with broader economic and environmental factors.

The quality of road infrastructure plays a crucial role in road safety. However, information regarding infrastructure ratings in Türkiye is limited which could provide valuable insights into the safety performance of specific road segments and inform infrastructure improvements. This information is crucial for prioritizing investments and targeting high-risk areas.

Türkiye has experienced rapid motorization, with 358 vehicles per thousand population by 2024. LDVs dominate the vehicle landscape, accounting for about half of the vehicle fleet, followed by 2-wheelers (20%), and trucks (18%).

The road traffic crash fatality rate in Türkiye for the year 2021 was 6.4 per 100,000 population. This is significantly below the Asia-Pacific average of 15.2 and Central and West Asia average of 13.1. Although the number of fatalities demonstrated a 6% decrease since 2016, there are still more road crash deaths in 2021 than in 2010.

The fatality rate per 100,000 registered vehicles was about 22.

• Urgent action needed to reduce road fatalities The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 aims to cut road fatalities in half by 2030. An annual reduction of at least 7.4% is necessary to achieve this.
• Asia-Pacific region falling behind Despite reaching a peak in road crash fatalities, the Asia-Pacific region is not on track to meet the 2030 goal. The average annual reduction in deaths between 2016 and 2021 was only 0.6%, far below the required rate.
• Varying progress across Asia Using the 2016-2021 road crash fatality growth rate as a basis for estimates until 2030:
  • Only 3 Asian countries are projected to achieve the 50% reduction target by 2030.
  • 19 Asian countries are expected to reduce fatalities by at least 25%.
  • Worryingly, 7 Asian countries will continue to increase road fatalities, moving further away from the target.
• Road crash fatalities in Türkiye decreased by approximately -6% per year between 2016 and 2021. However, this falls short from the target to halve the fatalities by 2030

Türkiye has established a dedicated strategy for road safety. The Road Traffic Safety Strategy Document 2021 - 2030 sets ambitious targets to eliminate road traffic fatalities by 2050 with an intermediate target of halving the fatalities by 2030. This is accompanied by a more detailed Road Traffic Safety Action Plan 2024 - 2027 and other relevant policy documents that address various aspects of road safety, such as infrastructure and vehicle improvements, road use regulations, demand management, among others.

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