Skip to main content

Europe’s road safety improves

Europe’s road safety is seeing steady improvement.
By MJ Woof September 1, 2020 Read time: 1 min
Road crashes, injuries and fatalities have been reduce in Europe over the last 14 years - image © courtesy of Mike Woof

Road safety in Europe has seen steady improvement over the last 14 years, according to the latest official data. While vehicle numbers have continued to increase during this period, fatalities from road crashes have fallen.

Since 2006, vehicle numbers have increased by around 45 million, a jump of 16.8%, to around 312 million. However, in spite of this, road fatalities have fallen 42.4% to around 25,000.

This shows the continued gains in road safety through a series of measures. Eastern European nations have typically scored poorly for road safety but a range of measures have helped lower the casualty rate. Injuries and crashes have also been reduced.

Related Content

  • Myanmar road safety concern
    April 7, 2016
    Concern is being expressed at the rapid rise in road deaths in Myanmar. The road fatality rate has increased substantially in recent years, as has the number of vehicles on the country’s road network. In the period from 2009-2014, the number of registered vehicles in Myanmar more than doubled. And in 2014 the World Health Organisation highlighted its concern that Myanmar’s road death rate had more than tripled in less than 10 years. According to official data, Myanmar had over 15,000 road crashes, 25,000
  • Europe’s road safety is not improving as previously
    April 3, 2012
    The latest official figures on road safety in Europe are giving cause for concern, with data showing casualty reduction has slowed. EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas recently announced a disappointing progress on casualty reduction on Europe's roads. The joint European police association, TISPOL, has added that it is also concerned that improvements in cutting fatalities on Europe’s roads significantly slowed in 2011.
  • Continued improvement in Swedish road safety
    April 11, 2014
    Sweden’s road safety continues to improve as highlighted by the latest official statistics. These show that a 9% drop in road fatalities for 2013 compared with the previous year. In all 260 people were killed in road crashes on Sweden’s roads during 2013. The official data was compiled by Trafikanalys and to put this in context, Sweden’s rate of road-related fatalities is now at its lowest level since 1944. It is worth noting that in 1944, there were comparatively few registered motor vehicles in Sweden whi
  • France a star in road safety
    September 3, 2012
    In the past, France had a poor road safety record. This has turned around to make the country a success story