Portugal was the sixth country in the European Union (EU) with the most road deaths in 2022, registering 60 deaths per million inhabitants, thus exceeding the average mortality rate in the EU of 46 deaths per million inhabitants.
The data revealed by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), and disclosed this week, are included in the special road safety report which shows an average of deaths from road accidents in Spain below 40 deaths per million inhabitants, placing the neighboring country in seventh place in the EU ranking in 2022.
Sweden, according to the table, is the country with the fewest deaths per million inhabitants in the Member States, registering 20 deaths per million inhabitants in 2022, followed by Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Finland, and Estonia, all with less than 40 deaths per million inhabitants.
At the bottom of the table is Romania, which was the EU country with the most deaths due to road accidents in 2022, exceeding 80 deaths per million inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, and, in sixth place, Portugal.
Despite the high accident rate in 2022, Portugal reduced the number of deaths compared to 2010, a year in which it recorded over 90 deaths per million inhabitants, highlights the ECA in the report.
As for the age of the vehicles circulating on EU roads, the report – based on data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) from 2021 – places Portugal in the middle of the table, along with Spain, with an average vehicle age of 13.5 years, but almost double the average age (7.6 years) of vehicles in Luxembourg, the youngest in the EU.
En 2022, Grecia, con un promedio de edad de los vehículos de 17 años, y Estonia, de 16,8 años, fueron los países de la UE con automóviles en circulación más antiguos y aproximadamente cinco años más viejos que el promedio de edad en la UE, que es de 12 años.
Como conclusión principal del informe, el TCE destaca que la UE y los países de la UE «deben esforzarse más», de lo contrario no podrán cumplir el objetivo de reducir a la mitad el número de muertes por accidentes de tráfico para 2030, en comparación con el valor de 2019, año en el que fallecieron en las carreteras de la UE 22,800 personas.
El TCE también recomienda a la Comisión Europea que anime a los Estados miembros a llevar a cabo investigaciones detalladas sobre las causas de los accidentes, especialmente en los puntos críticos, y promover la elaboración de informes armonizados al respecto, medida que debe cumplirse para 2026.
