The safety of European roads continues to be a pending issue, according to the results of the latest study released by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC, for its acronym in English). The PIN report that this non-profit organization has been preparing for 25 years reveals that in 2022 20,678 people died on European roads, 4% more than in 2021, and that only 13 of the 32 countries that are part of the program have achieved reduce the number of road deaths compared to the previous year.
The data in the report is a threat to the ambitious road safety program launched by the European Union, which aims to halve the number of road deaths in 2030 compared to 2019. Although the number of people killed behind the wheel in EU member countries fell by 9% in 2022 compared to 2019, this figure is far from the 17.2% expected to meet the objective of the community authorities.
Of the 32 countries analyzed by the PIN program, only 13 recorded a decrease in road fatalities in 2022, compared to the previous year. The best advances are found in Slovenia, which ranked first with a 25% reduction in deaths behind the wheel. It is followed by Latvia (23%) and Lithuania and Cyprus, both with 18%.
At the opposite pole, Malta presents the worst record, with an increase of 189% in mortality in 2022 compared to 2021. Luxembourg is second, with an accident rate 50% higher than the previous year.
The PIN report also compiles a ranking of road safety in each country based on deaths per million inhabitants. In this sense, Norway is the country with the safest roads in Europe, with a rate of 21 deaths per million inhabitants in 2022. Another Scandinavian country, Sweden, ranks second with 22 deaths per million inhabitants.
It is also worth noting the figures presented by the United Kingdom and Denmark, both with 26 deaths per million inhabitants, as well as Switzerland (28), Germany (33) and Finland (34), well below the European and EU average.
In the Europe of the 27, the average road mortality in 2022 was 46 deaths per million inhabitants, ten points less than in 2012. The worst figures are registered in Romania and Serbia, with 86 and 83 road deaths per million inhabitants, respectively. In two countries, Malta and the Netherlands, road fatalities are hit hard, as they are higher in 2022 than in 2012.
Spain, with 1,145 people killed in traffic accidents in 2022, presents an increase in the accident rate of 14%. However, in the last ten years (2012-2022) the number of road deaths has decreased by 7%. A figure that is still far from the community average, which is 22%, with Lithuania (-60%) and Poland (-47%) as the countries that show the greatest progress in terms of road safety.
The Spanish Government, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), has implemented a plan to reduce mortality on the roads. This is the 2030 Road Safety Strategy that was launched in June 2022 to consolidate a culture of safe mobility.
The objective of the program, which contemplates 62 courses of action grouped into 9 large strategic areas, is to move towards Vision Zero in 2050, in which no person is killed or seriously injured by a road accident.
The study reveals that in 2012 and 2013 8% fewer people died in traffic accidents on European roads compared to 2011. However, this promising start was followed by six years of stagnation with only a 6% reduction until 2019 In 2020 there was an exceptional drop of 17% compared to 2019, due to movement restrictions due to the covid pandemic.
2021 also saw a 13% drop in the number of road deaths compared to 2019, but instead rose 5% compared to 2020, due to the gradual relaxation of travel restrictions.
Even so, the report of the European Council on Transport Safety ensures that in the period from 2013 to 2022, 39,553 road deaths have been avoided in the European Union, compared to the figures provided by each member country in 2012. The ETSC regrets, however, that an additional 40,987 lives could have been saved if the 6.7% annual reduction required to meet the target proposed by the EU had been achieved.
