Too many goods and passenger transport deaths

Posted: April 25, 2013

Posted in: Bicycle Accidents Public Transport Road Traffic Accidents Wrongful & Accidental Death 

The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has warned that, despite a drop in the number of people who are killed in accidents involving goods and passenger transport vehicles in the EU, the numbers are still far too high.

Statistics show that, out of the total number of 30,239 road deaths recorded across the EU in 2011, 4,254 people lost their lives in collisions involving heavy goods vehicles, 3,999 in collisions with light goods vehicles and 722 in collisions involving buses or coaches.

Car occupants accounted for half of the people killed in collisions involving a HGV, pedestrians for 15%, cyclists for 7% and riders of powered two-wheeled vehicles (PTW) for 6%. Taken together, the drivers and passengers of the HGVs make up 12% of the deaths, reveals a newly published Road Safety Performance Index Flash.

“Progress in reducing deaths in collisions with heavy goods vehicles and buses has been faster than the general reduction of road deaths in the EU,” said Antonio Avenoso, ETSC Executive Director. “However, the number of deaths per distance travelled for heavy goods vehicles, as well as buses and coaches, is larger than for the average vehicle fleet, so we urge the EU and Member States to maintain their focus on these vehicles.”

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