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

  • Young motorcycle riders at most risk in Europe
    January 20, 2017
    Young powered two wheelers are most at risk of crashing. That is the key finding of a recent report into powered two wheeler crashes in Europe. The analysis of 9,186 crashes where a motorcyclist was severely injured, shows that specifically young, male riders face a significant risk to become a road traffic victim. The European Commission recently published the ‘Study on serious road traffic injuries in the EU’ to collate data that could in the future prevent serious road traffic injuries. The aim was to
    Read More
  • Europe’s road safety targets at risk
    June 15, 2015
    The EU’s targets for road safety are at risk due to increased fatalities in France, Germany and UK. This new analysis has been published by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). According to the ETSC data, 2014 showed the lowest annual reduction in EU road deaths since 2001. In all 25,845 people were killed in road crashes in the 28 nations of the EU during 2014. This represented a decrease of just 0.6% compared to 2013. EU member states now need to cut deaths by almost 8% each year until 2020 to me
    Read More
  • Safety concerns over cyclists and pedestrian deaths
    February 3, 2020
    A report from the ETSC reveals the lack of progress in improving safety for cyclists and pedestrians across Europe.
    Read More
  • France saw its road fatalities climb in 2014
    June 4, 2015
    After several years of steady gains in road safety, France has seen a decline in 2014. Figures show that offences increased by 17% in 2014, with the fatality rate increasing 3.5% to 3,384 deaths in all. Injuries caused by road crashes increased by 2.4% meanwhile. Speeding and drunk driving were cited as the biggest factors in crashes in France. The only classes of road user not to see increases in road fatalities were motorcyclists and truck drivers. It is of note that 21% of the 1,663 car drivers killed in
    Read More

Highlighted Content