In 2023, the European Union (EU) recorded over 20,400 fatalities on the roads, with Portugal ranking among the six countries with the highest number of deaths in road accidents, still below the European average, according to a European report.
The statistics published this Wednesday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and released by the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR) indicate that Portugal recorded 60 road deaths per million inhabitants last year, ranking sixth from the bottom of a table with 32 countries.
According to the report, the highest mortality rate in 2023 was observed in Bulgaria and Romania, with 82 and 81 road deaths per million inhabitants respectively, while the countries with the lowest number of deaths are Norway and Sweden.
ANSR states that Portugal saw a 1.5% increase in the number of fatalities in road accidents in 2023 compared to the previous year, although substantially lower than the increase observed in 2022 compared to 2021 (11.1%).
“Considering the year 2019 as a reference, in 2023 there was a 4.2% reduction in the number of fatalities in Portugal compared to that year”, indicates ANSR, emphasizing that the report shows that Portugal has had a reduction in road mortality, although below the European average and still far from achieving the goals of the European Union. Recall that in 2023, Portugal recorded almost 35,000 traffic accidents that caused 468 deaths and 2,437 serious injuries.
The statistics now revealed by ETSC indicate that in 2023 there were 20,418 fatalities on EU roads, a decrease of only 1% compared to 2022, “a value that falls far short of the annual reduction of 6.1% necessary to achieve the EU’s goal of reducing the number of fatalities by 50% by 2030”, according to ANSR.
In the release of the ETSC report, it was also announced that Finland was the winner of the 2024 European Council for Transport Safety award for remarkable progress in road safety.
“Finland has substantially reduced the number of road deaths by 29% over the decade until 2023, while the average reduction in the European Union (EU) was only 16%”, the ANSR statement states.
At the basis of this significant reduction in the number of road deaths in Finland, the fact that it is “the only country in Europe that conducts a thorough investigation of each fatal accident” is not unrelated, concludes the statement.
