Dear all, please note these disturbing figures on road safety in Europe provided by ITF. Best regards, Armin ________________________________ From: ITF.contact@oecd.org [mailto:ITF.contact@oecd.org] Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:27 AM Subject: Press Release: The Latest News on Road Crashes is Depressing Postal address 2 rue André Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16 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@oecd.org 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 ) and in the forthcoming publication "Trends in the Transport Sector, 1970-2007". This information 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@oecd.org