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Agriland
31-07-2025
- Automotive
- Agriland
Study: Ireland ninth safest European country for driving
Ireland ranks ninth as Europe's safest country for driving, with 32 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2024, 29% lower than the European average, a study has revealed. The study, carried out by analysed the latest data from the European Transport Safety Council's (ETSC) Performance Index (PIN) 2025 report, ranking European countries based on their 2024 road fatality figures. According to the study, Ireland recorded 172 road deaths in 2024, maintaining "strong safety performance" across both urban centres and rural counties. It also found that Ireland's roads are more than twice as safe as Serbia's, which is Europe's most dangerous driving country. The study revealed that despite having one of Europe's "most extensive rural road networks" and challenging Atlantic weather conditions, Ireland maintains consistent safety standards nationwide. The table below outlines Europe's top 10 safest driving countries: Rank Country 2024 Road deaths Population 2024 Road deaths per million Difference to EU average 32 Norway 89 5,550,217 16 -64% 31 Sweden 213 10,551,707 20 -56% 30 Malta 12 563,443 21 -53% 29 Denmark 145 5,961,249 24 -47% 28 United Kingdom 1,702 69,200,000 25 -44% 27 Luxembourg 18 672,050 27 -40% 26 Switzerland 250 8,962,258 28 -38% 25 Finland 176 5,603,851 31 -31% 23 Ireland 172 5,351,681 32 -29% 23 Slovenia 68 2,123,949 32 -29% Europe's top 10 safest driving countries. The following table outlines Europe's top 10 most dangerous driving countries: Rank Country 2024 Road deaths Population 2024 Road deaths per million residents Difference to EU average 1 Serbia 514 6,605,168 78 +73% 2 Romania 1,477 19,067,576 77 +71% 3 Bulgaria 478 6,445,481 74 +64% 4 Greece 665 10,400,720 64 +42% 5 Croatia 239 3,861,967 62 +38% 6 Latvia 112 1,871,882 60 +33% 6 Portugal 634 10,639,726 60 +33% 8 Hungary 497 9,584,627 52 +16% 8 Poland 1,896 36,620,970 52 +16% 10 Italy 3,030 58,971,230 51 +13% Europe's top 10 most dangerous driving countries The CEO of Mattijs Wijnmalen said: "Ireland's ninth-place ranking is particularly impressive, given the unique challenges of maintaining road safety across such a diverse road network. "From the busy M50 around Dublin to winding coastal roads in Kerry and Donegal, Ireland manages an incredibly varied driving environment that includes some of Europe's most scenic, and challenging, rural routes." "The 29% improvement over the EU average represents significant progress, especially considering Ireland's challenging weather conditions and the mix of local traffic, agricultural vehicles, and international tourists navigating unfamiliar roads," Wijnmalen added.
Local Norway
25-07-2025
- Automotive
- Local Norway
'Vision Zero': Why are Norwegian roads so safe?
These 89 break down to just 16 deaths per million inhabitants, and represent a 14 percent reduction on the rate Norway reported in 2023. It is only one-fifth the death rate of Serbia, the country rated by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) as having the most dangerous roads. Sweden ranks second with 20 deaths per million inhabitants, and Denmark ranks fourth with 24. Finland with 31 is the worst performer in the Nordics. Germany, with 33, has double Norway's traffic death rate while Italy on 51, has triple Norway's rate. EXPLAINED: The dos and don'ts of driving in Norway Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Slovakia, and Ireland also had the lowest death rates per billion vehicle-km travelled. Norway has led the ETSC's Annual Road Safety Performance Index for ten years in a row, something the council puts down to its continual efforts to improve road safety, with 179 action measures in 15 priority areas in its current three-year road safety strategy, winning it the 2025 PIN Traffic Safety Award. Advertisement EXPLAINED: The ways you can lose your driving licence in Norway In a page in the index, Norway's transport minister Jon-Ivar Nygård put the country's success down to its "systematic, evidence-based and long-term efforts", and particularly to its Vision Zero methodology. Norwegian cars increasingly, he said, travel within the speed limit thanks to hard-hitting publicity campaigns by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, automatic speed cameras, and traffic police with unmarked vehicles. Norway is aiming to reduce the number of road deaths still further to under 50 by 2030 and to reduce the number of serious injuries to under 350. To achieve this, Norway's government plans "increased control and enforcement", "targeted campaigns", and new cameras at known danger spots. The next few years will also see an increased focus on motorcycles and e-scooters.
Irish Times
24-07-2025
- Automotive
- Irish Times
Ireland ranked seventh in Europe for number of road deaths in 2024 amid ‘alarming rise'
Ireland ranked seventh in Europe for numbers of road deaths per million population, according to European Transport Safety Council data from 2024. However, progress in reducing road deaths 'has been slower than the EU average', said Maria Meinero, policy and data analyst with the ETSC. Ireland's high point was in 2018, when the country ranked second in Europe for its relatively low levels of road deaths. Figures rose from 134 road deaths in 2018 to 179 in 2023 after the pandemic. There were 175 road deaths in 2024. The Road Safety Authority has identified a notable increase in young people's deaths; those aged 16 to 25 accounted for 27 per cent of all road deaths in 2023 and 2024. READ MORE Dudley Curtis, communications manager at ETSC, said: 'The rise in road deaths in Ireland over the past five years is alarming. But this trend can and must be reversed.' The 27 EU countries agreed to cut the number of road deaths in half by 2030 from 2019 baseline figures, as part of its Vision Zero strategy. In Ireland, the goal is to have no more than 72 people dying on the roads by 2030 and no fatalities at all by 2050. Already in the first six months of 2025, 81 people have died on Irish roads. On Wednesday the July 16th, the Department of Transport published its second action plan to achieve safer roads between 2025 and 2027. Priority areas include improvements to sustainable transport infrastructure and interventions in high-risk areas. Speed limits and alcohol interlocks for convicted drink drivers have proven to reduce deaths on the road in other places in Europe, says Curtis. 'Ireland should do the same – without hesitation.' Norway was the top ranking country in 2024, with 16 road deaths per million people, and Sweden was ranked second with 20 deaths per million people. The region's average stands at 45 deaths per million inhabitants in 2024 and is not on target to reach a 50 per cent reduction by 2030. 'We must strive to achieve greater progress, to emulate what has been achieved in Norway – a mark of what is possible to achieve', says Michael Rowland, director of research, standards and assurance at the RSA. Rowland acknowledged 'a substantial growth in our population, as well as increases in the number of registered vehicles, vehicles kilometres travelled and in the number of licensed drivers using our roads' have increased the risks with driving in Ireland. He also points to 'persistent levels of engagement in dangerous behaviours on our roads among motorists', such as speeding, drunk driving and mobile phone use causing distraction, as the causes of more collisions and fatalities.
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
The Observer view on SUVs: they are too dangerous and too big, their drivers should be made to pay
Britain is facing an unusual crisis: carspreading. Our road vehicles are getting bigger as people buy more and more SUVs of increasing dimensions and weight. At the same time, our streets and parking places remain the same size. The consequences of this uncontrolled vehicular expansion have become profound. Potholes are being created in greater numbers as our roads are pounded by heavier vehicles; multiple parking spaces are being taken over by single, giant cars; and road accidents are now producing more severe injuries to drivers and passengers of other vehicles. This last issue is of particular concern. A study by the European Transport Safety Council found that in a collision between a modest-size SUV (sports utility vehicle) weighing 1,600kg and a lighter car weighing 1,300kg, the risk of fatal injury decreases by 50% for the occupants of the heavier car but increases by almost 80% for the occupants of the lighter car. Similarly, pedestrians and cyclists are more likely to be killed if the car that strikes them has a bonnet that is higher off the road than average, a typical feature of an SUV. The trouble is that sales of these vehicles are booming. In 2024, they accounted for 33% of all registrations, compared with a figure of only 12% a decade earlier. This dramatic change in the use of our roads has led organisations such as the campaign group Clean Cities to call for strict measures to be imposed on car owners. Their argument is straightforward. If a car generates more potholes in our roads, takes up more parking space and poses more danger to pedestrians, cyclists and other car occupants compared with smaller vehicles, then it is only fair that its owner pays more for driving that vehicle. Paris has already introduced specific parking charges for SUVs. Drivers of these vehicles now have to pay triple the amount of those who drive regular cars. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has indicated that he would support such a scheme for the capital and should be encouraged to pursue the idea with rigour. However, attempts to tackle the problem should not be confined merely to parking. At present, the owners of polluting vehicles have to pay more road tax, based on the carbon dioxide they emit, and drivers of more expensive cars, including electric ones, are also hit with an extra tax. It may be that these measures will have to be expanded in future, with similar levies being imposed on the owners of SUVs and other vehicles whose sizes exceed specific dimensions. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion Avoiding such measures could allow a transport problem that has already reached significant levels to become a major crisis. It is an issue that now needs to be considered as a matter of urgency.
Forbes
01-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Serious Traffic Injuries In Europe Worse Than Reported, Study Finds
Serious road injuries in Europe are 'massively' under reported. The lack of accurate data for the number of injuries that result from collisions and where and when they occur, are contributing factors for why most countries are failing to significantly improve road safety. Those are the main findings of a new report published on Monday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), a Brussels-based independent non-profit organization. 'Every day, all over Europe, hundreds of people are seriously injured on our roads,' Jenny Carson, project manager at the safety council said in a statement. 'Policymakers underestimate both the scale of the problem and the impact that these injuries can have.' About 1,291,000 people are reported injured annually in the European Union, and some 141,000 of them are serious, based on estimates obtained from official sources, the safety group said. But those numbers may underestimate the true extent of the problem, it added, due to inconsistencies in data collection and sometimes massive under reporting by the police. According to the report, 'Reducing Serious Injuries on European Roads' most official statistics on traffic injuries in Europe are from police reports, but police often have no specific knowledge and can misjudge the severity of the injuries. In addition, while collisions involving motor vehicles are much more likely to be reported by police, officers are rarely at the scene of the vast majority of incidents involving pedestrians and cyclists when no motor vehicle was involved, and as a result, many go unreported. The report noted that while hospitals collect their own data on patients injured on the roads, they do not routinely collect information on where and when injuries occur, necessary information to identify high risk sites that need upgrades to prevent future incidents. Also, governments often struggle to combine information collected by hospitals with police statistics, which is essential to form a comprehensive picture of the scale of the problem. For example, the report cited that collision data collected in the Czech Republic indicated that the police database contained only 43% of the injuries recorded by the public health insurance system. And a study conducted in the Netherlands found that there were police reports for about 65% of people seriously injured in collisions when motor vehicles were involved, but only about 12% when there were no motor vehicles involved. Many countries in the European Union have incorporated serious injury reduction targets into their national road safety strategies, but this report highlights that progress in reducing injuries ' is lagging behind the reduction in road deaths.' To address the challenges and achieve a reduction in deaths and serious injuries, the report advocates for better governance and management so that leaders take responsibility, ensure transparency, guarantee funding, improve data collection, and develop partnerships. The study supports a "Safe System' or Vision Zero approach to road safety and design that takes human error into account, first put into effect in Sweden in the 1990s. The goal of the initiative is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries by creating multiple layers of protection, so if one fails, the others will create a safety net to lessen the impact of a crash. Improvements are designed to result in: safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and better post-crash care. 'National governments,' Carson added, 'need to work harder to improve the flawed system of relying extensively on police-reported data which gives a misleading picture of the full burden of road injuries on individuals, societies and our economies.' To access the full report, click here.
