Malta has the safest roads in the EU, according to data published in Brussels yesterday.
Malta had the lowest number of fatalities in the EU in 2012, reporting just 26 deaths per million inhabitants, according to the annual road safety statistics – which detail the number of fatal road accidents across the 27 EU member states.
The average in the EU stood at 55 deaths per million inhabitants, a decrease of nine per cent over 2011.
Malta has held the enviable record in this area particularly because it has no highways and due to its small road network, where speed is under ‘natural’ control.
However, the 2012 statistics show that Malta managed to cut its road fatalities by nearly half in just a year.
But the previous year was one of the worst for Malta, which reported 51 road fatalities per million inhabitants. Country by country statistics show that the number of road deaths still varies greatly across the EU.
Apart from Malta, the countries with the lowest number of road fatalities are the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, reporting around 30 deaths per million inhabitants.
The worst drivers seem to be in Romania (96 deaths per million inhabitant), followed by Poland (93) and Greece (92).
Compared to the figures of 2011, when progress in cutting EU road deaths fell, the reduction of nine per cent in 2012 means that member states are back on track towards the objective of halving road deaths between 2010 and 2020.
In order to reach this goal, an average reduction of around seven per cent is needed.
Commenting on the results, Commission Vice President Siim Kallas said that 2012 was a landmark year for European road safety, with the lowest ever number of road deaths recorded. “A nine per cent drop means that 3,000 lives were saved last year. Still 75 people die on Europe’s roads every day, so there is no room for complacency.”
According to the EU, it is estimated that for every death on Europe’s roads there are 10 serious injuries and 40 more slightly injured. Most of the injuries are to the head.
The Commission is proposing to improve data collection and adopting an EU-level target to continue to reduce injuries.
These proposals will now be discussed by transport ministers.