The image of Chawezi Mwafulirwa on a walk with his late son at sunset is seared into his memory. It is a simple and ordinary scene that turned catastrophic.
Chawezi, a 37‑year‑old clinician based in Blantyre, lost his 11‑year‑old son, Charles, in October 2024. The two were on a routine evening walk through their Machinjiri Township neighbourhood when a vehicle mounted the sloping verge, struck them and dragged them into a ditch.
Charles hit his head and was pronounced dead on arrival at Mlambe Mission Hospital; Chawezi escaped with minor bruises.
“The driver tried to avoid potholes and I guess he lost control by swerving to the sidewalk.
“It’s a loss that tore my heart,” he says, his voice still raw. Since that night, the wound has not closed. He agreed to speak to Nation on Sunday to unburden some of the grief and to give a human face to a grim statistic: Charles, sadly, became a statistic; one of the many vulnerable pedestrians whose lives are lost annually in road accidents—and in 2025 alone—accounted for a majority of road accident deaths.
Records from the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS), which Nation on Sunday has seen, show that 1 034 people were killed in road accidents in 2025. Of those, 401 or 38.78 percent were pedestrians, making them the single largest group of fatalities.
Passengers accounted for 291 deaths (28.14 percent), motorcyclists commonly known as kabaza at 162 (15.67 percent), pedal cyclists 94 (9.09 percent), and drivers 85 (8.22 percent).
There was only one animal driver that was killed, representing 0.09 percent.
Pedestrians account for a majority of the road accident deaths despite DRTSS records showing 50 of the accidents attributed to pedestrian negligence, with the majority caused by varying driver behaviour.
According to the 2025 Africa Status Report on Road Safety, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists account for 50 percent of total fatalities with the estimated economic loss from road crashes reaching up to three percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a majority of African countries, including Malawi.
Our further review of DRTSS records show that 494 people were seriously injured with pedestrians accounting for 22.47 percent, passengers 47.57 percent, pedal cyclists 5.67 percent, drivers 10.32 percent, motorcyclists 13.77 percent and animal drivers 0.20 percent.
About 3 601 people were slightly injured and drivers accounted for 12.41 percent, passengers 43.46 percent, pedestrians 20.69 percent, pedal cyclists 7.14 percent, motorcyclists 16.19 percent and animal drivers 0.11 percent.
But while reckless driving has often been the common narrative of road accident causes, road safety experts attribute them to Malawi’s poor road conditions and lack of protective road infrastructure as some of the invisible causes.
Road Safety Alert Foundation executive director Joel Jere in an interview on Tuesday said the fact that pedestrians alone account for 401 deaths in a single year is not just a statistic, but a systemic failure.
“Poor road conditions act as a force multiplier for danger. We have a deficit in what we call forgiving roadsides. In many areas, especially along the M1 and major urban roads, there are no shoulders for pedestrians to walk on,” he said.
“When a road is riddled with potholes, drivers swerve erratically to avoid damage, often encroaching onto the non-existent space where pedestrians are forced to walk. Furthermore, the lack of drainage means that during the rainy season, the edges of the roads become muddy or flooded, pushing pedestrians even further into the carriageway.”
Jere also said the infrastructure gap is vast and that the country continues to lack three pillars of pedestrian safety namely separation, visibility and crossing facilities.
He said there is also a lack of consistent footpaths and where they exist, they are often blocked by vendors or parked vehicles, subsequently forcing pedestrians onto the tarmac.
He said: “There is a lack of footbridges, zebra crossings and pedestrian traffic signals. In high-speed zones, we cannot expect pedestrians—who are often mothers carrying children or workers commuting—to cross four lanes of traffic without a controlled crossing point.
“When we force them to dash across, we are essentially leaving their safety to chance. I don’t dismiss the role of driver behaviour; speeding, drunk driving and fatigue are major killers. But in road safety science, we understand that human error is inevitable, but the fatality does not have to be.”
Jere, therefore, said the pedestrians killed translates to people that have been failed by the system to protect them, stressing that pedestrian safety needs to be treated as a matter of urgent infrastructure development, rather than a driver enforcement issue.
Road safety specialist Kondwani Nyirenda said while reckless driving is often cited as the primary cause of road accidents, the reality is more complex and multi-dimensional.
“Many roads, particularly in peri-urban and rural areas, are narrow, poorly maintained, and lack proper signage and lighting,” he said.
“Additionally, limited street lighting reduces visibility at night, which disproportionately affects pedestrians.”
Nyirenda further said in many parts of Malawi, roads are not designed with pedestrians in mind, citing the absence of sidewalks, footbridges, safe crossing points, and clearly marked pedestrian lanes, a situation which forces people to share the same space with fast-moving vehicles.
He said such a situation significantly increases exposure to risk, especially in high-traffic areas.
Nyirenda said it is important to emphasise that road safety is a shared responsibility, adding that focusing solely on driver behaviour overlooks systemic issues such as infrastructure gaps and enforcement limitations.
As such, he said a more holistic approach is needed—one that combines improved road design, stricter enforcement of traffic laws, and sustained public education campaigns.
He said reducing pedestrian fatalities in Malawi will, therefore, require coordinated efforts across multiple sectors, including transport planning, law enforcement, public health, and community engagement to create a safer environment for all road users.
DRTSS director Christopher Kuyera was yet to respond to our questionnaire sent to his WhatsApp messenger on Thursday.
