Following two years of solid decreases in the number of people killed on Europe’s roads, the first reports on road deaths in 2014 are disappointing.
According to figures released by the European Commission, the number of road fatalities has decreased by approximately 1% compared to 2013.
This follows on the 8% decrease in 2012 and 2013. The figures reveal a total of 25,700 road deaths in 2014 across all 28 Member States of the EU. Whilst this is 5,700 fewer than in 2010, it falls short of the intended target decrease.
Violeta Bulc, EU Commissioner for Transport said: “It’s sad and hard to accept that almost 70 Europeans die on our roads every day, with many more being seriously injured. The figures published today should be a wake-up call. Behind the figures and statistics there are grieving spouses, parents, children, siblings, colleagues and friends. They also remind us that road safety requires constant attention and further efforts.”
She added: “We need to step up our work for the coming years, to reach the intended EU target of halving the number of road deaths by 2020. Let’s work together to make sure more people come home safely at the end of their journey. This is one of my priorities and should be one of the priorities of all governments in all the Member States!”
The average EU fatality rate for 2014 is expected to be 51 road deaths per million inhabitants. Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom continue to report the lowest road fatality rates, with less than 30 deaths per million inhabitants. Four countries still report fatality rates above 90 dead per million inhabitants: Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.
Preliminary country by country statistics on road deaths for 2014 [1]
| Fatalities per million inhabitants (Road fatality rate) |
Evolution of total number of fatalities | ||||
| 2010 | 2013 | 2014 | 2010-2014 | 2013-2014 | |
| Austria | 66 | 54 | 51 | -22% | -5% |
| Belgium | 77 | 65 | 64 | -15% | -1% |
| Bulgaria | 105 | 83 | 90 | -16% | 9% |
| Croatia | 99 | 86 | 73 | -28% | -16% |
| Cyprus | 73 | 51 | 52 | -25% | 2% |
| Czech Republic [2] | 77 | 62 | 61 | -20% | -3% |
| Denmark | 46 | 34 | 33 | -28% | -4% |
| Estonia | 59 | 61 | 59 | -1% | -4% |
| Finland | 51 | 48 | 41 | -18% | -14% |
| France | 64 | 51 | 53 | -15% | 4% |
| Germany | 45 | 41 | 42 | -8% | 1% |
| Greece | 112 | 79 | 72 | -37% | -9% |
| Hungary | 74 | 60 | 63 | -15% | 6% |
| Ireland | 47 | 41 | 43 | -7% | 4% |
| Italy | 70 | 57 | 52 | -23% | -6% |
| Latvia | 103 | 88 | 106 | -3% | 18% |
| Lithuania | 95 | 86 | 90 | -11% | 4% |
| Luxembourg | 64 | 84 | 65 | 13% | -20% |
| Malta | 36 | 43 | 26 | -27% | -39% |
| Netherlands [3] | 32 | 28 | – | -11% | – |
| Poland | 102 | 87 | 84 | -17% | -3% |
| Portugal | 80 | 61 | 59 | -34% | -3% |
| Romania | 117 | 93 | 91 | -24% | -2% |
| Slovakia | 65 | 46 | 54 | -18% | 16% |
| Slovenia | 67 | 61 | 52 | -22% | -14% |
| Spain | 53 | 36 | 36 | -32% | 0% |
| Sweden | 28 | 27 | 29 | 3% | 6% |
| United Kingdom [2] | 30 | 28 | 29 | -4% | 3% |
| EU | 62 | 51 | 50.5 | -18% | -1% |
[1] The 2014 figures are based on provisional data; there might be minor changes in the final data for individual countries.
[2] Estimation based on data from January to September.
[3] Evolution of fatalities 2010-2013.
