According to a European Commission report, there were 36 deaths per million inhabitants on Luxembourg roads in 2019, the lowest rate ever recorded in the grand duchy Shutterstock

According to a European Commission report, there were 36 deaths per million inhabitants on Luxembourg roads in 2019, the lowest rate ever recorded in the grand duchy Shutterstock

The European Commission 2019 road safety statistics report, published 11 June, recorded 36 deaths per million inhabitants on Luxembourg roads in 2019, compared to 56 in Belgium, 48 in France and 37 in Germany.

Bar Belgium, the other three countries were below the EU average of 51 road deaths per million inhabitants.

Because of Luxembourg’s small sample size, the report author noted the number can be subject to fluctuations. From 2010 to 2019, the evolution appears to be promising, as road deaths fell 31%. Similar drops were noted in neighbouring countries over the same period, with Belgium recording the biggest progress with a 24% drop (Germany 16% and France 19%).

23% decrease in road fatalities across EU

In total, there were 22,800 road traffic fatalities in the 27 EU member states in 2019, 7,000 fewer than in 2010. According to the data, progress slowed since 2013 and the EU is not expected to hit its target of halving the number of road deaths from 2010 to 2020.

“2020 still may prove to be an outlier with early indications that the number of road fatalities is likely to drop significantly in view of the measures taken to tackle coronavirus, but not by enough to meet the target,” the report author wrote.

The best performing countries were Sweden (22 deaths/million) and Ireland (29/million) while Romania (96/million), Bulgaria (89/million) and Poland (77/million) reported the highest fatality rates in 2019.

Only two countries had a fatality rate higher than 80 deaths per million inhabitants, compared with seven in 2010. Indeed, half of all member states had a rate below 50 while for 10 countries, the rate was less than 40.

In total, eight member states recorded their lowest ever road fatality rate in 2019: Croatia, Finland France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden.

Detailed data on the victims and locations of deaths was not yet available for 2019.

Safety measures

Luxembourg communes and infrastructure minister have introduced a number of measures aimed at improving safety on roads. These include the reduction of speeds in some urban areas to 30km/h and rolling out of speed cameras. From 15 June, average speed cameras will be installed along a section of N11 road between Waldhof and Gonderange.