More EU road deaths but still under pre-corona level

Since car traffic in Europe started to get going again after the corona crisis, the number of road deaths went up again. Fortunately, the figures remain below those before the corona pandemic.

Last year, there were three percent more deaths on European roads compared to 2021. In 2022, about 20 600 people died in traffic. More than in 2021, but 10% less (-2 000) than in 2019, the year before the corona outbreak.

Worse than in pre-corona times

However, according to the provisional road safety figures released by the European Commission on Tuesday, not all European countries show the same evolution. Some even score worse than in pre-corona times. The Netherlands, for instance, (+4% between 2019 and 2022), and Ireland (+11% between 2019 and 2022).

In Belgium, the number of fatalities in 2022 was lower than in 2019 (-7%) but higher (52 deaths per million inhabitants in 2022) compared to 2020 (43 deaths) and 2021 (45 deaths). Across the European Union as a whole, the number of road deaths in 2022 was 46 per million inhabitants. In 2018, the EU set itself the goal of halving the number of road deaths by 2030.