40% of EU road deaths are work-related

Up to 40% of all road deaths in the European Union are work-related, a report by the European Transport Safety Council suggests. 

Analysing EU road safety data for 2016 – a year in which road traffic caused 25,671 fatalities throughout the EU – the ETSC points out that the drop in road deaths has stagnated, and urges the EU, national governments and the private sector specifically to reduce the risk of work-related road accidents. 

The report says points to improved data collection as an important first step to take. Few police forces across the EU currently register the purpose of the journey for vehicles involved in accidents, nor is there a standard definition for work-related road deaths throughout the EU – a cause of underestimation of the problem.

Concurrent with the publication of the report, the ETSC named Switzerland as the winner of its 2017 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award for its progress on reducing the number of deaths and injuries on its roads. 

In Switzerland the number of road deaths declined by 15% in 2016 compared to the previous year, by 34% since 2010, and by 60% since 2001. The average number of road deaths in Switzerland now stands at 26 per million inhabitants – the lowest in Europe, togeter with Norway.

Said Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the ETSC: “We hope Switzerland’s win sends a positive message to other traditional road safety leaders who have dropped the ball in recent years such as the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK”.

Image: Huhu Uet, CC BY 3.0