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

  • Safety has no alternative
    January 30, 2023
    The speed control project is recognized as a strategic road safety project of the Republic of Croatia and is included in one of the main documents of the Republic of Croatia, specifically in the National Road Safety Plan of the Republic of Croatia for the 2021 to 2030 period as adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
  • Myanmar’s poor road safety – cause for concern
    October 13, 2017
    Myanmar’s road safety remains a serious cause for concern. Some improvements have been seen in recent times, but more work needs to be done. There were 74,442 road crashes in Myanmar between the start of 2013 and August 2017. These resulted in 122,520 serious injuries and 28,502 fatalities according to data from the Myanmar Police Force. From January to August 2017, there were 12,250 crashes and 3,556 road fatalities, with 49% of the crashes involving motorcycles.
  • Call for Government action after first UK road casualty rise since 2003
    June 28, 2012
    Road Safety Foundation (RSF) director, Dr Joanne Marden, has urged the government to get road safety policies “back on track” after new official figures revealed the first annual UK road casualty increase for eight years. The figures, contained in a government report titled Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: 2011, show that the annual number of people killed in road accidents increased by 3% from 1,850 in 2010 to 1,901 in 2011 – the first increase since 2003 despite a levelling off of vehicle traff
  • Road safety gain for Argentina
    July 1, 2024
    Argentina is benefiting from a road safety gain.