According to initial figures for the year 2019, 22 people died on the country’s roads, down from 36 in 2018.

The figure was released by the mobility ministry to mark its attendance at the third global ministry road safety conference in Stockholm from 18-20 February. The full figures for road accidents in 2019 are expected to be published in May 2020.

Halving deaths

Under the last decade-long strategy, the goal was to halve road death numbers from those recorded in 2010. That year, some 32 people died.

Speaking from the conference, mobility ministry spokeswoman Dani Frank said that the next 10-year goal will be to half the number again by 2030. “We now have an action plan that goes from 2019-2023. We’ve about 31 measures, all of which aim to reduce fatalities on the streets. They’ve proven to be successful since numbers are really going down in the last years,” Frank said.

Over the last decade, Luxembourg has introduced a number of traffic calming measures including the installation of speed cameras and mobile speed cameras, 30 k/h limits in certain areas, awareness-raising and regular police controls on drink driving and vehicle safety.

Increase quality of life

While in Copenhagen, Luxembourg mobility minister François Bausch (déi Gréng) spoke at the round table "Promoting Sustainable Cities and Communities". He commented on the global phenomenon of mass population migration to urban centres, stressing the need to give these places back to citizens instead of cars.

“Why do I need 500 horsepower to move 500 metres in the centre of a city? We have to focus on multimodality, intelligently combining all means of transport, finally make more room for soft mobility and thus considerably increase the quality of life of city dwellers," he said.

Luxembourg has introduced a number of measures in the capital to boost public transport, including installing the tram in Kirchberg and new train stations in Pfaffenthal Gare and Howald. In future, a large redesign is meanwhile planned for the district of Kirchberg to make it more people-friendly in future.