Original article by Koen Baumers, GVA
"Admittedly, we have come a long way. Five and ten years ago, there were many more road deaths in Belgium than the European average. Compared to Scandinavia and Western European countries such as the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, we scored very poorly. In 2019, 56 people per million inhabitants died in traffic.
We have made up for that gap over the past five years. The number of road deaths has fallen by 25 percent in five years, while the average in Europe has only fallen by 10 percent. Only in Poland and Cyprus has further progress been made."
The statistics come from the European Road Safety Council (ETSC), which collects the official statistics of the European Member States. “Belgium has implemented several safety measures in recent years, with a focus on the safety of vulnerable road users and on better enforcement,” the ETSC said in a statement. “Some major cities have expanded the zones where the maximum speed is limited to 30 km per hour, sometimes even throughout the city, such as in Brussels. There are also more separated cycle paths.”
More cameras
Enforcement also made a difference, says ETSC. “The processing of fines is now standardized and automated. There are also five thousand ANPR cameras in Belgium, and one in three Belgians will receive a speeding fine in 2023. The penalties for mobile phone use behind the wheel and recidivism have also been increased.”
"More than 50,000 deaths have occurred across Europe that could have been avoided if the intended targets had been achieved"
“The new figures on road safety confirm the trend emerging in Belgium: increasingly safer roads for everyone, with a significant decrease in the number of road fatalities,” says resigning Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), now chairman through the Belgian EU presidency of the ETSC. “The progress we see today is a testament to the continued efforts that have been made.”
With a decline of 37 percent over ten years, Belgium will not achieve the target of halving it. More than 50,000 deaths have occurred across Europe that could have been avoided if the intended targets had been achieved.
The Netherlands scores better
But the backlog has not yet completely disappeared. In 2013 we were among the worst countries, after the Czech Republic, for example. Now we are just in the first column. There is stagnation in the Netherlands, says the ETSC. But the country still scores better than Belgium: in 2023 there were 43 deaths per million inhabitants, in the Netherlands 38. “Although the evolution is positive, the work is far from finished,” says Gilkinet. “We must continue to do everything we can to avoid injuries and/or deaths on our roads at all costs.”
The 27 Member States have set themselves the target of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on the road to zero by 2050. “Despite the progress made, these objectives will not yet be achieved.”
Original article by Koen Baumers, GVA