[sustran] Latest News on Road Crashes is Depressing

[Eric Britton]

From: ITF.contact at oecd.org [mailto:ITF.contact at oecd.org] =

Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:27 AM
Subject: Press Release: The Latest News on Road Crashes is Depressing

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Office address   2/4 rue Louis David, F-75016 Paris
Tel. 33 (0)1 45 24 95 96   Fax 33 (0)1 45 24 13 22

itf.contact at oecd.org <mailto:itf.contact at oecd.org> =

www.internationaltransportforum.org
<http://www.internationaltransportforum.org> =



Press Release

Paris, 20 November 2008


The Latest News on Road Crashes is Depressing

International Transport Forum Presents the Latest Available Data on Road
Crashes

"The latest news on road crashes is depressing" said the Secretary General
of the International Transport Forum Jack Short today in Paris, as he
presented the most recent data from the International Transport Forum.

Over 150 000 people lost their lives and a further 6 million people were
injured in road crashes in the 44 countries of the Forum that reported data
for 2007.

Road deaths per capita vary by a factor of almost 8 across the countries.
"This is what is most depressing", said Short, "the measures and policies to
reduce crashes and fatalities are well known. If all countries had fatality
rates like Japan, Norway, UK or the Netherlands more than 80 000 lives would
be saved".

Looking regionally, Central and Eastern Europe both show significant
increases in fatalities. Rapid motorisation is a factor in the region but
the figures show "the lack of continuous and determined political effort" in
these countries, according to Short.

In Western Europe, the picture is more mixed but the recent decline in
fatalities has slowed and the 1.2% decline in 2007 fatalities is the
smallest for the last 5 years. Moreover, in Western Europe the number of
casualties and the number of injury accidents have increased "a sure sign
that we are not making our road system safer" said the Secretary General.

Better news comes from countries outside Europe where there have been small
reductions in fatalities, casualties and injury accidents in the major
countries. The US reduced both injury accidents and casualties for the
seventh consecutive year; Japan's striking improvement makes it now the best
performing country in the International Transport Forum with 45 fatalities
per million inhabitants.

In Western Europe the number of road traffic fatalities declined in 2007 by
1.2%. However this decrease was accompanied by a rise in both the number of
casualties (+1.4%) and the number of accidents (+5.6%). These data are
strongly influenced by the performance of Turkey which has shown significant
increases in all three indicators. In 2007, only the United Kingdom and
Greece recorded drops in the number of fatalities, casualties and injury
accidents. At the same time Denmark, Finland and Sweden have seen their road
fatalities increase by 32.7%, 13.1% and 5.8% respectively.

In Central and Eastern Europe the number of road fatalities increased by
6.4% in 2007. This result is all the more disappointing since the region
recorded at the same time strong increases in the number of casualties
(+6.4%) and number of accidents (+6.7%). With the exception of Bulgaria,
Estonia, Hungary and Lithuania, which show a drop in road fatalities,
casualties and injury accidents, all other countries have been confronted
with a rise in the number of fatalities on their roads. Countries like the
Czech Republic and Romania saw their fatalities increase by 15% and 12.8%
respectively.

In 2007, the Community of Independent States (CIS) recorded a strong rise of
its road fatalities by 8.2%, breaking the positive signs recorded in the
last few years. With the exception of Russia (+1.8%) the number of persons
killed on roads increased strongly in all countries, and particularly in
Ukraine with +38.1%.

As far as non European members of the ITF are concerned, they continue to
show encouraging results in 2007, recording a drop of 3.1% in the number of
fatalities, 2.8% in the number of casualties and 3.3% in the number of
injury accidents. Only Mexico and New Zealand are showing a strong rise in
road fatalities (+10% and 7.9% respectively). The number of casualties and
injury accidents are also increasing in these two countries.

Behind these global figures there are significant variations from one
country to another, as the following tables show:


Road fatalities in 2007


Western Europe

Number of fatalities

2007/2006 %


Austria

691

-5.3


Belgium

1 067

-0.2


Denmark

406

32.7


Finland

380

13.1


France

4 620

-1.9


Germany

4 949

-2.8


Greece

1 578

-4.8


Iceland

15

-51.6


Luxembourg

43

19.4


Malta

12

9.1


Netherlands

791

-2.5


Norway

233

-3.7


Portugal

854

0.5


Spain

3 823

-6.8


Sweden

471

5.8


Switzerland

384

3.8


Turkey

5 004

8.0


United Kingdom

3 059

-7.2


Total

28 380

-1.2

			=


Central and Eastern Europe

Number of fatalities

2007/2006 %


Albania

384

38.6


Bulgaria

1 006

-3.5


Croatia

619

0.8


Czech Republic

1 222

15.0


Estonia

196

-3.9


FYROM

173

23.6


Hungary

1 232

-5.4


Latvia

419

2.9


Lithuania

740

-2.6


Poland

5 583

6.5


Romania

2 794

12.8


Serbia

962

6.9


Slovakia

661

8.7


Slovenia

293

11.8


Total

16 284

6.4

			=


CIS countries

Number of fatalities

2007/2006 %


Azerbaijan

1 107

7.8


Georgia

737

9.2


Moldova

464

21.5


Russia

33 308

1.8


Ukraine

9 481

38.1


Total

45 097

8.2

 =


			=


Other ITF

Number of fatalities

2007/2006 %


Australia

1 616

1.1


Canada

2 729

-5.6


Japan

5 744

-9.6


Korea

6 166

-2.5


Mexico

5 398

10.0


New Zealand

422

7.9


United States

41 059

-3.9


Total

63 134

-3.1

 =



Aggregates

Number of fatalities

2007/2006 %


OECD1

106 234

-1.8


EU2

42 924

0.2


ITF1,3

158 929

1.3


1)  For Italy and Ireland, the number of fatalities refers to the year 2006.

2)  Cyprus is not included.

3)  Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia, Montenegro, are not included.

 =


More detailed information on latest trends will be available on the Forum
website in December 2008 (www.internationaltransportforum.org
<http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/> ) and in the forthcoming
publication =93Trends in the Transport Sector, 1970-2007=94. This informati=
on
may be reproduced, provided the ITF is quoted as the source.

Contact: Michael Zirpel

Director of Communications

International Transport Forum

Tel. +(33-1) 45 24 95 96

michael.zirpel at oecd.org

__._,_.___ =


 =


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