Addis Ababa has won the gold award in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, recognising its work on managing traffic speed and reducing accidents. The award, announced in Washington DC, placed the city first among eight finalists.

The initiative pushes cities to adopt World Health Organization-recommended speed limits, including caps below 50 kilometres per hour in urban areas and 30 kilometres per hour near schools, hospitals, and markets.

Mayor Adanech Abebe said the award reflects the city’s commitment to safer roads. The accompanying 100,000 US dollars prize will fund further improvements, including automated speed cameras and an intelligent transport system.

Globally, speeding is linked to around 600,000 deaths annually, half of the 1.19 million road fatalities recorded each year, according to the World Bank. Despite Addis Ababa’s efforts in redesigning high-risk corridors and stepping up enforcement, speeding remains the leading cause of fatal and serious accidents, a problem particularly acute on weekends, a Johns Hopkins study shows.