IT’s no secret that driving can be incredibly dangerous and each year there are many accidents and fatalities on the road.
It is interesting to look at what steps have been taken to reduce the number of incidents on the roads, as well as how UK road accident statistics compare to other countries around Europe.
EU Targets
The European Union announced its commitment to improving road safety in 2010 with a target of reducing road deaths by 50% by 2020 compared to 2010 levels.
While there certainly has been progress made, currently Europe is not on course with an overall reduction of 20.7% which equates to 2.8% annual average reduction (a 6.7% reduction is required to achieve the goal).
UK Stats
So, how does the UK compare internationally? In the UK there were 1,839 road fatalities in 2018 compared to 1,856 in 2017 and 1,860 the year before. The rate of road deaths in 2018 per million population is 27.7 for the UK which is lower than all but two other major countries.
A few notable examples include the USA (112.3), Australian 45.8), Spain (38.7) and Germany (39.6). Norway has the fewest fatalities with 20.4 per million followed by Switzerland 27.5.
Road Accidents
In terms of non-fatal road accidents, there were 25,511 serious injuries in road accidents reported to police in the UK in 2018.
It is difficult to compare this to years gone by due to changes in the system for reporting by some police forces but it is estimated that there has been a slight decline since 2010 but at a slow rate compared to prior to 2010.
Slight Injuries
Slight injuries like whiplash are also important to factor in. There were 133,302 slight injuries reported in 2018 which continues with the trend of decreasing slight injuries since 2014. It is hard to determine the exact figures for slight injuries, however, as many are never reported to the police.
Action Needed
It is clear that there has been some progress achieved but not nearly enough particularly when you factor in the 2020 target – the EU would have to reduce the number of road deaths by 20.6% in 2019 and 2020 to reach the target.
There needs to be strong political will and urgent measures put in place all around the EU as well as an increase in traffic law enforcement to make the roads a safer place for all.
Overall, the UK road accident statistics are better than most around the world but there is a cause for concern because the rate has been largely flat for the last few years after a period of heavy decline.
Although the statistics are better, it is essential that strong action is taken to continue to decrease the number of fatalities as any number is too high.
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