Few traffic fatalities does not necessarily mean safe roads

Road fatalities may have dropped by 13 per cent in seven years but Malta is far from reaching the EU's 50-per-cent reduction target by 2010.

Yet, Maltese roads are statistically still considered to be the safest in Europe and last year Malta had the lowest number of fatal accidents - 34 per million inhabitants compared to the EU average of 86 deaths.

The most dangerous roads are those in Latvia (184 deaths per million inhabitants) and Poland (146 deaths per mission).

However, a Commission official, challenged Malta's safety record and said the low numbers might still not mean that the island can boast of having the safest roads.

"One of the reasons why the number of fatalities in Malta is lower than the EU average is that the island has a small road network and speed limits are much lower than those on major European motorways," he said.

According to a report, it seems the EU as a whole and almost none of the 27 member states will not make it by the agreed timeframe of 2010.

The countries that have come close to achieving the target are France and Portugal, which have reduced their fatal road accidents by 43 and 42 per cent respectively. On average, the EU 27 have only managed to reduce road deaths by 21 per cent.

The worst performers are Romania and Slovenia, which have actually seen fatal road accidents go up by 13 and five per cent respectively.

Through a defined strategy, which includes information and education campaigns on how to minimise risks and black spots, the EU is aiming to cut the number of fatalities to 27,000 in 2010 from 54,000 in 2001. Last year, the number of deaths on EU roads stood at 42,500.