Safer roads in many countries in 2020

Road safety improved in many countries in 2020.
By MJ Woof January 19, 2021 Read time: 2 mins
There has been a notable drop in road fatalities in many countries around the world, although crash rates still give cause for concern – image courtesy © of Mike Woof
While the COVID 19 pandemic has led to an appalling loss of life around the world from the illness, the corresponding reduction in traffic has resulted in a drop in road deaths in many countries. Data from countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Laos and Turkey shows a notable drop in road deaths for 2020 due to the lower traffic volumes arising from the pandemic.

The drop in road fatalities in the Czech Republic during 2020 was of particular note, falling to the lowest levels since these statistics were first collected in 1961. There were 460 road deaths in the country in 2020, a reduction of 87%. Meanwhile, serious injuries from road crashes also dropped to 1,807 for 2020, compared with 2,110 in 2019. Overall, there were 94,794 road crashes in the Czech Republic in 2020, a reduction of 12% compared with the figure for 2019.

In 2020 there were 450 road fatalities in Hungary during 2020, a drop of 150 compared to 2019. Serious road crashes resulting in injuries fell 17% from 2019 to 13,745 in 2020. The data was compiled by Hungary’s national police department ORFK, also highlighting a 20% drop in road crashes involving fatalities.

In Laos there were 1,031 road deaths in 2020, compared with 1,134 in 2019. Drunk driving and speeding were the two primary factors in serious crashes in Laos during 2020. Of note is that the number of crashes increased in 2020 to 6,774 compared with 6,616 in 2019. But the seriousness of the crashes declined, resulting in the lower fatality levels noted.

Turkey’s road crash figures dropped to 365,000 in 2020, compared with 1.1 million in 2019. Meanwhile, road deaths in the country fell to just 2,200, while there were 228,000 serious injuries in road crashes, a significant drop compared with the figures in 2019.
Highway & Network Management

Related Content

  • Drink driving drop for France and UK
    August 12, 2013
    The latest data from France and the UK reveals a stunning long term drop in deaths from drink driving since the 1970s. This highlights the effectiveness of campaigns to tackle drink driving in both countries. In France some 18,000 people were killed on the roads in 1972, compared with 3,645 in 2012. The French Government intends to continue this road safety policy and intends to lower the annual fatality rate to 2,000 by 2020. There is a financial benefit to the economy from improving road safety. According
    Read More
  • Italian crash rate reducing
    May 24, 2016
    An in-depth analysis of crash statistics from Italy shows that road safety is improving in the country, albeit slowly. The Italian National Statistiscs Institute has published the yearly report (2014) covering road crashes. The data reveals that in 2014 there were 1777,031 crashes involving injuries. This represents a drop of 2.5% compared with the figures for 2013. In all 3,381 people were killed in road crashes in Italy during 2014, a drop of 0.6% compared with 2013. The number of serious injuries from ro
    Read More
  • Polish road safety continues to improve
    January 16, 2014
    Official data from Poland shows a continued improvement in road safety. The data reveals that there were 5% fewer accidents, almost 8% fewer fatalities, a 5% decrease in injuries and a 5% reduction in drink-drivers. The information was made available recently through Pan-European police body TISPOL. According to TISPOL, the statistics confirm that police action can be effective in reducing vehicle crashes. Comparing the data for 2013 with statistics for 2012 and 2011 reveals a notable drop in road crashes,
    Read More
  • Europe’s road safety picture slanted wrong way?
    May 24, 2016
    The European Commission’s latest figures for road safety reveal some cause for concern across the EU. While the EU has the world’s safest roads overall, the road fatality rate has slipped during 2015. And this is for the second consecutive year also as EU road deaths in 2014 also showed an increase over 2013. By comparison, there were decreases in the European road death rate of 8% in 2012 and 2013.
    Read More

Highlighted Content