According to 2019 road traffic accident figures, outlined by mobility minister François Bausch (Déi Gréng) on Wednesday, 22 people died on the country’s roads, far and away the lowest number of road deaths ever recorded in the country. Yet it remains some way off the target of 16 deaths. While the 242 seriously injuries were almost two times the 2020 reduction goal of 133.

With 509,975 vehicles recorded as registered in Luxembourg, it is logical that the majority of deaths and injuries concerned people in vehicles, as the chart below shows.

Accident peaks occurred during rush-hour traffic in the morning, around lunchtime and evenings, when the volume of traffic on roads is higher.

Reported weather conditions suggest that poor weather did not increase the likelihood of an accident occuring. Indeed, 68% of serious injuries and 55% of deaths occurred in dry conditions, as the chart below shows.

There was a sharp uptick in the number of serious injuries in which speed was a contributing factor and dangerous, rising from 67 in 2018 to 76 in 2019. Alcohol-related deaths also rose sharply, from 3 to 9, and drug driving deaths rose from 1 to 4.

Bausch underlined the “alarming trend” emerging from alcohol-related accidents, as well as speed and dangerous driving, and an increase in serious accidents between vehicles and pedestrians.