During heatwaves, everyday life tends to feel more difficult than on an average day. Travel and daily movement are no exception.

But while most of us know rain, fog and storms can make driving conditions challenging, not many people realise heat also changes transport risk.

In particular, research evidence consistently suggests roads, trips and daily commutes can become more dangerous on very hot days compared with an average day.

The key questions are how much more dangerous, who is most affected, whether the risk is short-lived or lingers and how this information can be used to better manage road safety during extreme heat.

The clearest picture comes from a recent multi-city study in tropical and subtropical Taiwan.

Using injury data across six large cities, researchers examined how road injury risk changes as temperatures rise, and how this differs by mode of travel.

The results show what researchers call a sharp, non-linear increase in risk on very hot days.

It’s non-linear because road injury risk rises much more steeply once temperatures move into the 30–40°C range.

It is also within this range that different........

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