Malta has good record

Malta has one of the best records among EU member states in reducing the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents in recent years, according to the European Commission.

The Commission has just issued a mid-term review of its action programme on road safety, aimed at halving the number of road deaths by 2010.

Malta and eight other member states have seen a fall of 14 per cent in the number of people killed in road accidents between 2001 and 2004. The average decline in the EU was only five per cent.

In 2001, 50,000 people were killed on the roads in the countries which today make up the European Union. The joint target proposed by the EU in 2001 and updated after enlargement in 2004 is that by 2010 there should be no more than 25,000 fatalities a year.

However this target may not be reached if the current trend continues. The figures for last year show that about 41,600 people were killed on the roads. At the present rate, road deaths in the EU in 2010 are likely to stand at 32,500.

Malta is considered as having one of the lowest road death rates, with just 50 to 60 victims per million inhabitants, the same as the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. The Baltic states have the worst records, with Latvia and Lithuania still registering more than 200 fatalities per million inhabitants.

According to the EU, between 2001 and last year, the number of people killed on the roads fell by an average of five per cent a year and the number of accidents fell by an average of four per cent.

Motorcyclists and youth remain the most vulnerable when it comes to road fatalities.

In overall terms, the number of motorcyclists killed rose by 5.6 per cent between 2000 and 2003 while the total number of people killed fell by 12 per cent over the same period.

Young people between 18 and 25 represent 10 per cent of the EU population as a whole but accounted for 21 per cent of all the fatalities in 2003, with four-fifths of those killed being male.

Presenting these results, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that although progress has been registered it is still not enough and must serve as an incentive for everyone to do more.