Eighty-five children and young people under 25 died in traffic incidents in Belgium in 2025, four more than a year earlier, according to support organisation Ouders van Verongelukte Kinderen-SAVE (OVK-SAVE).
The group said the rise was being overlooked because public discussion about road safety often focuses on the overall decline in road deaths.
In total, 445 people were killed on Belgian roads last year, down 2.2% from 2024, according to figures published by traffic institute Vias in March.
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But among under-25s, the number of fatal victims rose from 82 in 2024 to 85 in 2025, OVK-SAVE said on Saturday.
The organisation described that toll as the equivalent of four classrooms left empty for good. It added that this figure does not include the many children and young people who were slightly or seriously injured, often with lasting consequences for themselves and those around them.
OVK-SAVE said road safety is not only the responsibility of individual road users. It said everyone has a part to play, from drivers adjusting their speed and paying close attention in traffic to governments providing safe infrastructure, coherent transport policy and safer mobility choices.
The organisation made the appeal ahead of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, held every third Sunday of November.
It urged the public to reflect on the human cost of traffic and to take responsibility as individuals, as a society and as policymakers, not only by remembering the victims but by working now to create a traffic environment in which such tragedies are prevented as far as possible.
