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Road Accident Statistics in Europe: How Safe are our roads?

The good news is, European roads are still the safest roads in the world, when compared with the number of fatalities that happen globally.

EU road accident statistics

The number of people killed in road accidents is reducing year on year:
 
Year
Number of people killed on the roads

2016

25,500 deaths

2015

26,100 deaths

2010

31,500 deaths


Although this reduction is good news, there is a significant difference between EU member states. Whilst the UK was amongst one of the countries with the lowest fatality rates, other countries including Poland and Bulgaria did not fair so well.
 
EU Country
Fatality rate per million inhabitants

Sweden

27

UK

28

The Netherlands

33

Spain

37

Denmark

37

Germany

39

Ireland

40

Poland

79

Latvia

80

Romania

97

Bulgaria

99

Which roads are the safest in the EU?

According to a report by the EU Commission, motorways were the safest means of getting about; this is in comparison to driving on rural roads. It found that 55% of road fatalities happened on rural roads in comparison to just 8% on motorways. It is also important to note that the safety on the EU roads is improving overall, with safety records improving year on year since 2010.

eu road fatalities  
Road fatalities by user:
% Of victims

CAR

46%

PEDESTRIAN

21%

MOTORBIKE

14%

BICYCLE

8%

MOPED

3%

OTHER

7%


Driving within the EU has never been safer as the number of accidents, serious injuries and fatalities is at its lowest on record, however it always pays to be prepared and take care when driving in a different country, that's why we have produced our Drive Smart Guide to help our customers drive safely and enjoy the benefits of renting a car. We have also looked at the Safest Rental Cars you can hire with Rhino.
Chloe Demaret
Posted: May 10, 2017 by Chloe Demaret 0 comments
About the Author -

Travel writer, social media guru, Chloe keeps our readers and customers up to speed with all the car rental and travel trends on our blog. Favourite destination: Dubai.

Last updated: Friday, February 23, 2024
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