Organisation: European Transport Safety Council (ETSC)
Date of Publication: June 2024
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre: 25 June 2024
There were 20,418 deaths on EU roads in 2023, a collective decrease of 1% compared to 2022, falling far short of the 6.1% annual reduction needed to achieve the EU target of a 50% reduction by 2030.
18 of the 32 countries monitored by ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Programme saw a decline in road deaths in 2023 compared to 2022. Malta led with a 38% reduction, followed by Luxembourg at 27%, Belgium at 11% and Hungary at 10%. Conversely, road deaths stagnated in two countries, and even increased in 12 countries, with Lithuania experiencing a significant increase of 33%, and Latvia’s deaths increasing by 26%.
Compared to 2019, the baseline year for the EU 2030 target, 19 countries showed a reduction in road deaths by 2023. Poland and Cyprus lead the ranking with a significant decrease of 35%. Belgium and Denmark follow with reductions of 25% and 22%, respectively. Road deaths in Malta remained stable with a 0% change. Conversely, an increase in road deaths was observed in 11 countries within the same period. Notably, Ireland experienced an increase of 32%, while Switzerland saw an increase of 26%. Collectively, the EU27 achieved a decrease of road deaths of 10% in 2023 relative to 2019. However, to align with the EU’s target for 2030, a reduction of at least 22% would have been necessary.
Between 2014 and 2023, the EU prevented 20,981 road deaths compared to the situation where each Member State had maintained the same number of fatalities as in 2013. However, it’s important to note that an additional 52,754 lives could have been saved if the annual reduction of 6.7% required to achieve the 50% reduction target within a decade had been consistently reached.
Click on the link below to download the report:
https://etsc.eu/18th-annual-road-safety-performance-index-pin-report