15.06.2022
In 2021, around 20,000 road fatalities were registered in the European Union. An annual reduction (-13%) that is still affected by the traffic restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 emergency.
It is one of the most relevant data among those contained in the report European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). Among the countries with the best reductions in road deaths in 2021 compared to 2019 (2020 is not significant due to the pandemic), Malta 44%, followed by Denmark 32%, Belgium 25%, Poland 23%, Spain 22%, Lithuania 21%. Less significant decreases in Portugal (-18%), Germany (-16%), the Czech Republic (-14%), Cyprus, Sweden and Austria (-13%).
The definitive data on 2021 road accidents in our country, on the other hand, will be released in July, with the traditional ACI-Istat press release. In the period 2011-2021, in Europe, the decrease in road accident victims was 31%, with a saving of over 57,000 lives (57,095) and more than 64 billion euros in social costs.
“Despite a sharp decline in road deaths over the past two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has not ‘immunized’ Europe against road deaths and injuries – said Antonio Avenoso, Director of ETSC. 20,000 people die on our roads every year and reducing these numbers will require hard work, political will and investment ”.
With regard to the seriously injured, for which the target of a 50% reduction by 2030 was set for the first time, the ETSC Report stresses that the definition or methods of counting the same are not yet uniform in the various European countries; therefore it is not possible to compare the number of seriously injured between different countries.
The European Commission has estimated that 120,000 people in Europe are seriously injured following a road accident; the ratio of deaths is six to one. The few collectible data show a certainly slower decrease than the number of deaths: in the last decade the seriously injured would have decreased by only about 18.5%.
For this reason, ETSC strongly recommends that the timeliness and quality of post-accident intervention be improved in each country in order to mitigate the consequences more effectively.