Women in Safety with WHO’s Dr. Fangfang Luo: “We do not have a knowledge problem. We have an implementation problem.”
When the world pledges to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030, when it promises to protect its vulnerable road users and its children playing on the streets, when it adopts new declarations to accelerate action - how do we ensure those pledges become more than empty promises?
From evidence law and forensic science to national lawmaking, road policing and now to her role as Technical Officer on Safety and Mobility at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters, Dr. Fangfang Luo has dedicated her career to preventing road traffic deaths and injuries.
Backed by 13 years in road safety legislation and implementation, Fangfang now leads the review and assessment of road safety laws globally as well as the development of WHO legal guidance on road safety. Her work helps bridge the gap between global commitments and national realities, translating evidence and international best practice into laws and policies that work on the ground.
In the second edition of Global NCAP’s Women in Safety series, we sit down with Fangfang to unpack what she’s observed from the frontline.
Global NCAP: Firstly, can you tell us about your journey into road safety?
Fangfang: “I’m a lawyer by training. I’ve spent the past 13 years working in road safety legislation and implementation. My academic background is in forensic science and evidence law. During my studies. and later in my professional life, I witnessed so many road crashes and saw the human consequences behind the data and statistics. These are children, mothers, fathers, breadwinners who suddenly have their whole lives changed. Those stories really stayed with me, both in my mind and in my heart.
“After completing my PhD, I joined the Ministry of Public Security in China as a traffic police officer for six years. I joined the legal division of the Traffic Management Bureau of MPS, where I provided technical support to China’s road safety lead agency and contributed to the drafting and amendment of road safety laws and regulations, as well as the implementation at national and subnational level. I also taught at the People’s Public Security University of China and delivered capacity building sessions for police teams at the subnational level.
“Policing is a hugely male-dominated profession. As a woman, it was particularly meaningful to contribute to strengthening the capacity of traffic police officers through training. My experiences from China - such a large and diverse country, with communities at different levels of development and mixed mobility needs - gave me the practical understanding of how to translate evidence into legislation and, importantly, how to make legislation work in practice. The experience grounds and shapes what I now do at WHO.”
Global NCAP: What are you responsible for at WHO?
Fangfang: “There are four main parts to my work at WHO. Firstly, I lead the review and assessment of road safety legislation globally. The results were presented at the Global Status Report on Road Safety as an important approach to monitor and evaluate the progress and gaps to improve road safety. It directly ties to the UN Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 goal and sets out performance indicators to support progress towards that target.
“I also lead the development of the WHO legal guidance on road safety, working closely with partners and stakeholders. In response to requests from Member States and the growing global urgency of these issues, we are currently developing legal guidance in three high-impact areas: distracted driving, speed management and infrastructure, as well as powered two wheelers (PTW) safety. The guidance will provide evidence-based best-practice criteria for Member States to strengthen their road safety laws, while also supporting WHO’s monitoring and assessment of road safety progress globally.
“Third, I provide technical support to Member States, including reviewing draft and amended road safety laws and regulations at their request. This gives us an opportunity to translate international evidence and best practice into legislation that is appropriate for national and local contexts. And fourth, I deliver legislative and judicial training across countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, with a focus on capacity building, knowledge exchange and sharing practical experiences. So, in many ways, my work connects evidence, law and implementation - looking not only at what the law should say, but also at how we can help countries turn good legislation into real improvements in road safety.”
Global NCAP: We’re speaking on day one of Safety 2026. What are your first impressions of the conference and what messages are emerging from the discussions so far?
Fangfang: “It’s a positive, energetic and highly-collaborative atmosphere. And even though today is the first day of the main conference, the pre-conference programme has already created a very strong sense of connection across different areas of injury prevention. What I find particularly encouraging is the breadth of the discussions, from road safety and drowning prevention to violence against children, maritime safety, safe journeys to school and improving injury surveillance and data. For me, one of the strongest messages is that injury prevention is a global health priority, but it is also an area where we know progress is possible.
“Another message I am hearing strongly is that these issues cannot be solved within individual sectors. Road safety, for example, is not only a transport issue. It connects health, policing, infrastructure, urban planning, vehicle safety, education, finance and social policy. That is why I think a conference like Safety 2026 is so important. It brings people together who may normally work in different fields but who are ultimately working towards the same goal: creating environments where people can live, move and grow without being exposed to preventable risks.”
Global NCAP: You’ve highlighted the importance of looking beyond transport when we talk about road safety. When you assess countries’ progress towards the UN Decade of Action goal, what do you see in the relationship between road safety and social factors such as gender, income and inequality?
Fangfang: “Road safety is fundamentally a public health and social equity issue, not simply a transport issue. The burden is highly unequal. Around 92% of global road traffic deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, even though these countries have 72% of the motor vehicles and 12% of paved roads. More than half of road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
“There’s a devastating link to age too. Road traffic injuries remain the leading cause of death for young people and children aged five to 29. At the same time, road traffic deaths affect people during their most productive years: approximately 69% of fatalities are among people aged 18 to 59, while around 23% are among people aged 60 and above.
“Gender is another important dimension. Men are about three times more likely than women to die in road crashes, and around one-third of global road traffic deaths are work-related. This means that the burden of road injury often falls disproportionately on people who are working and supporting their families - particularly men in many low-income settings. But there is another, less visible dimension of gender inequality. When someone is killed or seriously injured in a road crash, the responsibility for caring for injured family members or supporting the household often falls on women. So the gender impact of road injury extends far beyond the person who is directly injured or killed.
“And income matters enormously. People with fewer resources often have fewer safe mobility choices. They may depend more heavily on walking, cycling, motorcycles or informal transport and may live in areas where infrastructure and public transport are less safe. So when we talk about road safety, we are really talking about who has access to safe mobility and who bears the risks of our mobility systems. Road safety therefore needs to be considered alongside health, urban planning, social protection, employment, infrastructure and economic development. Safe mobility should be a basic condition of an equitable society.”
Global NCAP: Financial inequality is clearly reflected in the global distribution of road deaths, with the overwhelming majority occurring in low and middle-income countries. What’s the way forward?
Fangfang: “First, it comes down to institutional responsibility and adequate funding. Governments need to give road safety the political priority and resources it deserves. At the UN High-Level Meeting in New York this summer, Member States adopted a new Progress Declaration calling for every country to have a road safety lead agency, adequate funding and clear targets. Safe mobility is a basic human right. If people cannot move safely in their own communities, how can we say that a country is truly developing?
“Second, we need strong support from donors and development partners, such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, the FIA Foundation, the World Bank, the UN Road Safety Fund and other new partners. They can help governments build capacity, strengthen policies and legislation and advocate for greater national commitment to road safety. Ultimately, we need stronger national ownership, supported by international solidarity and investment. The resources may be unequal across countries, but the right to safe mobility should not be.”
Global NCAP: Democratising Vehicle Safety in Africa was the key theme of Global NCAP’s Forum for Safer Mobility. What did you bring to the discussion?
Fangfang: “There were three core topics I brought to the table. The first was global trends. The latest WHO data shows that the global road death rate fell by more than one fifth between 2011 and 2025 despite more than one billion more motor vehicles on the world’s roads. But 1.16 million people still died on the world’s roads last year. So the message from the High Level Meeting was that we must double down on delivery.
“The second theme I addressed is the global vehicle safety gap, including for motorcyclists. I led the legal review team for the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety and the evidence is very clear: as of 2022, only 35 countries require all priority vehicle safety regulations for new four-wheeled vehicles. Meanwhile 79 countries - that’s more than a third of all UN Member-States - have no such legislation at all. No low-income country has national regulations or standards requiring Electronic Stability Control (ESC), while zero African countries have national regulations on pedestrian protection. We’re experiencing a global safety divide. People in different markets can be exposed to very different levels of protection, even when the underlying vehicle technology already exists. The 2019 Global NCAP testing of different versions of the Nissan NP300 is a powerful illustration of this problem. From a WHO perspective, this is fundamentally an equity issue. What made up my third discussion point is why international collaboration is so essential to close these gaps.”
Global NCAP: What was your key takeaway from the Forum?
Fangfang: “The global vehicle safety problem is not about if we have the technology. We know that we do. The problem now is if we have the political commitment, regulation, market incentives and international collaboration to make that technology accessible and affordable to everyone. Everyone everywhere deserves safe vehicles. This was the key takeaway from the Forum.”
Global NCAP: What are your calls to action to accelerate global progress towards the UN Decade of Action goal?
Fangfang: “First, stronger institutions and accountability. Road safety cannot remain an issue that belongs to one ministry or one agency. We need a national lead agency with legal authority, accountability, adequate resources and the ability to coordinate across transport, health, police, finance, education, environment and local government. And we need institutions that are empowered not simply to develop strategies but to deliver results and be accountable for them.
“Second, implementation of proven interventions at scale. We do not have a knowledge problem. We have an implementation problem. We know the major risk factors. We know that managing speed saves lives. We know that drink and drug-driving laws matter. We know that helmets, seatbelts and child restraints work. We know that safer infrastructure and safer vehicles work.
“As of 2022, only 6 countries have laws that meet all of WHO’s best practices. Of course, all six countries are in Europe. There are nearly 60 countries in the world who have zero laws that meet WHO’s best practices. It’s a huge gap. Vehicle safety regulation is again an example of that gap. To push progress forward, we also call for road safety responsibility to be shared with the private sector, technology to accelerate equity, safety and not just mobility and for road safety to be treated as an investment in health and sustainable development.”
Global NCAP: Who is one woman in the road safety industry that inspires you and why?
Fangfang: “Road safety has traditionally been a very male-dominated field, with a strong focus on technology and engineering. But there are many women in this sector who inspire me and have been a great source of support. One woman I would particularly like to highlight is Professor Li Rui.
“She was a road safety law professor at the People’s Public Security University of China and a legal consultant to the Director-General of the Traffic Management Bureau. She is, in many ways, the founding figure of road safety law in China. She was a strong advocate for bringing the Safe System approach into Chinese legislation.
“What inspires me most about her is her wisdom, kindness and resilience. Road safety is not easy work. You need patience, mental strength and the ability to keep going, because behind every policy and every statistic are real people and families affected by tragedy. She is also a mother and she has this very strong sense of responsibility to serve people. That really resonated with me. She planted a seed in my mind and in my heart about what it means to dedicate your professional life to public service. And I think that is particularly meaningful to me now that I work at the global level. At WHO, we serve Member States, our partners and, ultimately, people around the world. Professor Li showed me that technical expertise and public service can go hand in hand and that has continued to inspire me throughout my own journey.”
