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UK road deaths 'lowest in Europe'

22/07/2010

The proportion of people dying in accidents on the UK's roads is the lowest among all EU member states, new figures have revealed.

According to the European Commission (EC), 38 out of every million UK inhabitants were killed on the country's roads during 2009, placing it among the safest of EU member states. Sweden and the Netherlands both shared similarly low levels of road accident casualties, with 39 deaths per million inhabitants.

All three countries showed similar improvements in casualty rates compared to 2001. The UK and Netherlands each managed to reduce road deaths by 35%, while Sweden did so by 39%.

The average road death rate across the EU was 69 per million population, down 36% on the 113 deaths per million recorded in 2001.

In 2009, Greece and Romania (130 deaths per million), Poland (120), Bulgaria (118) and Latvia (112) had the highest proportions of fatalities, but Latvia showed the biggest improvement of all states - a 54% reduction on 2001.

Publishing the figures, the EC set out seven strategic objectives to further reduce casualties, including 'intelligent' vehicles, safer trucks and cars, building safer roads, improved training and a focus on motorcycles - the riders of which suffer a disproportionately high risk of death and serious injury.

Commission vice-president Siim Kallas said that progress since 2001 had resulted in the saving of nearly 80,000 lives, but he added that the 100 deaths per day on European roads remained "unacceptable".

"We are looking at what kind of cars motorists drive, where they drive and how they drive and we want to cut road deaths in half by 2020."

Welcoming the target, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said that rather than becoming complacent, the UK should strive to set a good example for the next decade.

"It would be wrong to see road safety as a 'job well done'", said head of road safety Kevin Clinton.

"Given its position as a road safety leader, the UK can share a lot from its experience, but we must remember that there are important lessons for us too."

Fatalities on the UK's roads fell to an all-time low last year, dropping to 2,222 - a 12% fall on the 2008 figure. Worldwide, however, road accidents remain a leading cause of death; killing more people aged 10-24 than any other single cause.

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