Despite progress made, the pace of improvement is insufficient in many Member States to achieve the EU’s 2030 target of halving the number of road fatalities and serious injuries, the European Commission concluded in a report published on Monday 16 February.
19,940 people were killed on Europe’s roads in 2024, which is a 12% decrease since 2019. However, these figures fall well short of the 4.6% annual reduction needed to achieve the targets. Road accidents continue to impose enormous costs on the EU economy, estimated at around 2% of gross domestic product, while up to 100,000 people suffer life-altering injuries each year.
In absolute terms, car occupants are the most likely to die in a road accident. They account for around 44% of all fatalities, followed by pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. Relative to the number of vehicles on the road, however, motorcyclists run a much higher risk of dying in a road accident. Road workers and maintenance staff are a specific risk group.
Between 2019 and 2023, despite progress in protecting vulnerable road users, particularly a significant fall in the number of pedestrian fatalities, the reduction in cyclist and motorcyclist fatalities was much smaller.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/kr1 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)