2024-04-08 18:07:37
Extra-urban roads are the most dangerous in Europe. This is according to the report PIN Flash 46 “Reducing road deaths on rural roads“, published by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), an independent non-profit organization based in Brussels, committed to reducing the number of deaths and injuries in the road transport sector in Europe.
In the European Union, half of all road deaths (10,637 in 2022) occur on rural roads other than motorways. The report also explains who are the main victims and causes of traffic accidents, which is why there are ETSC’s recommendations to EU member states to make roads safer.
According to the report, which covers the period 2012-2022, non-urban roads are more dangerous because they often lack central and side barriers and are used by many different vehicles in terms of weight and speed: there are cars, trucks and even cyclists and pedestrians .
Over the past decade, the number of deaths on non-urban roads in the EU253 has fallen by 25%, from 14,162 in 2012 to 10,644 in 2022. All other road deaths have fallen by 18% over the same period. This is a far cry from the EU’s Vision Zero-inspired target of a 50% reduction in road deaths by 2030 compared to 2019, and the EU’s ambition to eliminate road deaths by 2050.
Faced with this data, ETSC’s recommendations for safer roads are four: installation of side and center barriers, removal of obstacles along the road, construction of designated routes for cyclists and construction of sidewalks for pedestrians.