Road safety in Europe encompasses transportation safety among road users in Europe, including automobile accidents, pedestrian or cycling accidents, motor-coach accidents, and other incidents occurring within the European Union or within the European region of the World Health Organization (49 countries). Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured.
In 2016, according to the World Health Organisation, road accidents were the eighth-biggest cause of death in the world; deadlier than both diarrhoeal diseases and tuberculosis. Not only is it important to consider road fatalities, but for every fatality on Europe's roads, it is estimated that 4 people will become permanently disabled, 10 will suffer brain or spinal cord damage, 10 people will be seriously injured and 40 will have sustained minor injuries. On top of this, road accidents incur a large economic impact. In Europe alone, it is estimated that the cost to society of road accidents is €130 billion annually. Road accidents and incidents happen for a number of reasons. The main cause of an accident is speed, this is followed by other issues such as driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs, being distracted at the wheel by mobile devices, in-car radios or personal navigation devices. These risk factors listed here are but a few reasons for road collisions to occur and they demonstrate the myriad of complex factors that are at play for road-safety policy makers.
Trends and targets
The European Union (EU) has the safest roads in the world; in which 49 people per million inhabitants died in a road collision in 2018. In the year 2000 over 50,000 people in Europe lost their lives on the roads, by 2009 this number had been reduced to over 35,000; and by 2018 the figure has been reduced further to 25,100, whilst in the same year the number of serious injuries incurred as a result of road collisions was 135,000 people.
The European Commission (EC) has laid out a plan entitled Vision Zero which endeavours to reduce the incidence of road induced fatalities to a rate of zero by the year 2050. In order to be able to achieve their long-term ambition of zero deaths on Europe's roads, the Commission implemented a road safety strategy, The Road Safety Programme, in which they aimed to halve the number of fatalities caused by road accidents and incidents between 2011 and 2020. As of 2018, European Union member states are far from this target, since there has only been a 20% reduction in road fatalities, which makes the target of a 50% reduction by 2020 now seem implausible.
In 2021, the European Investment Bank signed an agreement with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to strengthen collaboration in the fields of road safety and climate resilient transport infrastructure.
European Union: Source European UnionSÉCURITÉ ROUTIÈRE: Quelle est la situation dans votre pays? ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/pdf/statistics/dacota/scoreboard_2015_en.pdf D'après des données CARE/Eurostat European Union:, 2019 Early estimates United States: Source OCDE/ITFBase de donénes IRTAD_CASUAL_BY_AGE stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=IRTAD_CASUAL_BY_AGE for 1990, 2000 and 2010–2015 period (killed after 30 days) United States: Source NHTSA (2007–2019).
The Commissioner of Transport of the EU considers road safety as a key European success story.
Various geographical safety organizations
World Health Organization The World Health Organization issued a European Status Report on road safety.
Ninety per cent of WHO countries have a safety agency operating with their respective transport ministries, except in CIS countries where the topic falls under the interior minister.
From an EU perspective Road safety policy making in the EU falls jointly on the European institutions and member states; and it is the European Commission (EC) which has a particularly important role in overseeing road safety policy across the Union. This is because it has oversight over product standards and regulations, as well as certain aspects of infrastructure development and management. Road safety is based upon the EU principle of subsidiarity: national and local authorities are responsible for most decisions, including enforcement and awareness-raising, while the EU operates a general framework for improved road safety via legislation and recommendations e.g. introducing minimum safety requirements for the Trans-European Transport Networks, and technical requirements for the transport of dangerous goods.
The EU publishes various legal texts regarding road safety.
European Road Safety NGOs The European Transport Safety Council is an NGO based in Brussels. It aims to reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries in transport in Europe.European Safety Council The Council reported an increase in fatalities in most European countries in 2015.Department for Transport, Reported road casualties in Great Britain: Main Results, 2015 , published 30 June 2016
Definitions Definition of a fatal road accident
The 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic defines a fatal road accident as an accident in which a person dies of their injuries at the scene or within thirty days. This definition has been adopted across most EU countries.
Some countries have applied this definition retrospectively where possible. For instance, until 2004 France counted its killed at six days, but in an effort to enable comparison with neighboring countries a multiplicative coefficient was used up to 2004 and since 2005 to convert the killed at six days into killed at thirty days, before France adopted the international definition in 2005.
Injuries Each year road crashes generate about 120,000 fatalities and 2.4 million injuries in the European region of the World Health Organization. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults.
In 2015, the European Commission published a figure for the number of people seriously injured on Europe's roads: 135,000 people in 2014. To obtain this figure all countries of the EU needed to align on a common standardized medical definition of what constitutes a serious road injury.
In Europe, for every person killed in traffic crashes, many moreSee table to compare number of serious injuries to number of deaths, for instance, Italy has 17 000 M·AIS3 injuries for nearly 3000 deaths suffer serious injuries with life-changing consequences. By lack of common methodology to compare serious injuries, serious injuries are not counted the same way in each country. European Commission estimates 120 000 people are seriously injured. That is like with one lost life; five additional people are seriously injuredEuropean Commission (2021) Road safety thematic report – Serious injuries. European Road Safety Observatory. Brussels, European Commission, Directorate, General for Transport. Section §2.2 Reported serious road traffic injuries in the EU.
For seriously injured people in Belgium, Finland and Lithuania, there are 36% of car occupants, 24% of cyclists, 20% of PTW, 14% of pedestrians, en 7% remaining.European Commission (2023) Facts and Figures Serious injuries. European Road Safety Observatory. Brussels, European Commission, Directorate General for Transport
Serious injuries are more costly to society because of the long-term rehabilitation and healthcare needed. Vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or elderly road users, are especially concerned.
Between 2010 and 2018, between 206 and 222 thousands serious injured were counted yearly for 23 EU members
Other issues
The level of transport-related air pollution is also a major public health concern in most countries of Europe.
Main road casualties indicators
Many differences between countries are linked to demography, development level and population density. According to Siem Oppe of the SWOW a learning behavior appears in the changes in the level of fatalities over time: In the poorest countries, there are few trips and less public transport. Motorized road traffic is low and the rate of fatalities by million inhabitants is very low (fewer than 30). Development of car use leads to a sharp increase in traffic and consequently increases accident numbers, and the ratio killed per million inhabitants in less poor countries passes 200. On the other hand, the richest countries experience a lot of congestion and have more developed transport and road safety policies. Drivers' behaviour is more cautious, and the ratio killed falls to less than 80 killed per million inhabitants.
+ European Union Road Safety Facts and Figures CountryArea (thousands of km2)Population in 2018GDP per capita in 2018 Population density (inhabitants per km2) in 2017Vehicle ownership (per thousand inhabitants) in 2016Road Network Length (in km) in 2013Total Road Deaths in 2018Road deaths per Million Inhabitants in 2018Number of People Killed per Billion kmNumber of Seriously Injured in 2017/2018Austria83.98,822,26738,000107665124,115409455.2 (2015–2017)7,664 (2017)Belgium30.511,398,58935,300376585155,21059052n/a3,757 (2017)Bulgaria111.07,050,0346,5006551619,67861188n/a8,680 (2018)Croatia56.54,105,49311,500†a7441626,8203177712.7 (2016–2018)2.776 (2018)Cyprus9.3864,23623,3001287269,7654957n/a348 (2018)Czech Republic78.910,610,05517,600137570130,6806566210.1 (2015–2015)2,395 (2018)Denmark42.95,781,19047,60013750874,130175303.7 (2016–2018)1,756 (2017)Estonia45.21,319,13315,1003062058,78767515.7 (2016–2018)460 (2018)Finland338.45,513,13036,6001873278,093225434.7 (2014–2016)409 (2017)France632.866,926,16632,8001235901,071,8233,265485.8 (2015–2017)27,732 (2017)Germany357.382.792,35135,900237610230,377†b3,177394.3 (2015–2017)67,913 (2018)Greece132.010,741,16517,80083605117,32169064n/a706 (748)Hungary93.09,778,37112,500108394203,31062964n/a5,496 (2018)Ireland69.84,830,39259,4007052596,017146313.5 (2015–2017)966†dItaly302.160,483,97326,700206707256,0393,310556.5 (2015–2017)17,309 (2017) †eLatvia64.61,934,37912,3003138770,4431437812.1 (2015–2017)542 (2018)Lithuania65.32,808,90113,3004550172,59117061n/a81 (2018)Luxembourg2.6602,00580,8002457402,8803660n/a256 (2017)Malta0.3475,70121,6001,462726203,31018386.6 (2016–2017)317 (2018)Netherlands41.517,181,08441,500508543138,641678314.7 (2015–2017)20,800 (2017)Poland312.737,976,68712,400124672415,1222,8627614.6 (2013–2015)10,963 (2018)Portugal92.210,291,02717,90011247914,310†c606598.5 (2016–2018)1,974 (2018)Romania238.419,530,6318,7008532985,5311,86796n/a8,144 (2018)Slovakia49.05,443,12015,60011345554,80622946n/a1,127 (2017)Slovenia20.32,066,88020,20010358738,87491446.6 (2014–2016)821 (2018)Spain506.046,658,44725,00093611666 4151,80639n/a9,546 (2017)Sweden438.610,120,24243,30025542216,976324323.4 (2016–2018)4,200 (2018)United Kingdom248.566,273,57632,400273544421,1271,825283.4 (2016–2018) GB Data Only25,609 (2017)EU 28 Total4,463.4 512,379,22528,2001215874,852,24225,249495.8 (no date range available)233, 285 (overall aggregate) †a Data only available for 2017
†b Data not available for "Other Roads" Category in source
†c Data not available for "Other Roads" Category in source
†d Data only available for 2016
†e Data for MAIS3+ certification Mortality within Europe, per million inhabitants in 2013 Source: Eurostat
Nationals means do not show local variations, so in 2015, NUTS regions with the lower fatality ratio per million inhabitants, are Stockholm (6), Vienna (7), Hamburg and Oslo (11), Berlin (14) and East Sweden (15).Eurostat The same year, other regions have a worst fatality ratio such as the Luxembourg province of Belgium (210) and Kastamonu in Turkey (192).
UK position
Mortality in UK is rather reduced compared with the EU.