Poland has cut road deaths by 47% in the last decade – far exceeding the EU average of 22%. In recognition of the major improvement, it was awarded the Road Safety Award by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) this year.
Road mortality (the number of road deaths per inhabitant) was 50 per million in Poland in 2022 – down from 93 per million in 2012. This sharp drop was only bettered by Lithuania, which won the ETSC award last year.
"Poland has greatly improved road safety in ten years and sets an example on how to take the issue seriously," said Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the ETSC. "There has been a genuine commitment to setting targets, improving infrastructure and boosting enforcement – all key factors in this impressive reduction."
The country's mortality rate of 50 per million inhabitants in 2022 put it just ahead of Italy (54 per million). The safest roads in Europe were found in Norway (21 per million) last year, followed by Sweden (22 per million).
Credit: ETSC
Belgium finished in fourth place, having reduced its number of road deaths by nearly 40% and measuring just over 41 deaths/million in 2022. Still, police records show that 521 people died on Belgian roads in 2022, a third of which were vulnerable road users.
An initial assessment of the 2022 data showed that almost half of all the cyclists killed were over the age of 65 and almost 40% were riding an electric bike at the time of the collision.
Several of the key elements considered when awarding this year's prize (in addition to the substantial drop in road deaths) were Poland's comprehensive plan to halve both deaths and serious injuries by 2030, expanding its speed camera and time-over-distance camera network and the increase in drink-driving enforcement checks (which rose 19% each year between 2010 and 2019).
Improving cross-border policies
Still, Avenoso stressed that improvement is needed across Europe as a whole. This must be implemented at both the EU and the national level. "The ‘road safety package’ announced by the European Commission in March makes some positive changes to driver licensing and could improve cross-border enforcement. The initiative to enable cross-border recognition of driving bans is also welcome."
A new analysis published by ETSC on Tuesday shows that while individual countries have been making improvements, the number of road deaths in the EU rose by 4% last year – to a total of 20,679.
Interestingly, that number is still 9% lower than in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically altered traffic volumes. In order to stay on track for the EU and UN target of halving the number of road deaths by 2030, a 17.2% decrease would have been needed.
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"It is now up to Member States and the European Parliament to ensure elements which could have a negative impact on road safety are removed and the package’s potential road safety benefits are not watered down on the often-treacherous road to becoming law," Avenoso said.
At the national level, governments across Europe should strive "by all means at their disposal" to resume their annual reductions in numbers killed and seriously injured in line with the EU and UN targets for 2030, Avenoso emphasised.
