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Austria sees slight decrease in road deaths

The Local Austria
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Austria sees slight decrease in road deaths
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Austria saw a slight decrease in road fatalities between 2013 and 2014, and a more significant overall decrease since 2010, according to a European Commission report released on Tuesday.

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The number of deaths on Austrian roads declined 5 percent last year, from 54 deaths per million inhabitants in 2013 to 51 deaths per million in 2014.

The country has seen a more marked improvement since 2010 when traffic-related fatalities were reported to be 66 per million inhabitants.

Across Europe, the level of change was also small, with overall road fatalities decreasing by 1 percent between 2013 and 2014, compared to a drop of 8 percent between 2012 and 2013.

"Following two years of solid decreases in the number of people killed on Europe's roads, the first reports on road deaths in 2014 are disappointing," the commission said in a press release.

The total number of road deaths was 25,700 over all 28 EU member states, which was 5,700 fewer fatalities than in 2010, but still short of the commission's goal.

"It's sad and hard to accept that almost 70 Europeans die on our roads every day, with many more being seriously injured," said EU Commissioner of Transport Violeta Bulc in a statement.

"The figures published today should be a wake-up call. Behind the figures and statistics there are grieving spouses, parents, children, siblings, colleagues and friends. They also remind us that road safety requires constant attention and further efforts."

The Austrian figure was equal to the European average for fatalities of about 51 per million inhabitants. The safest countries were Malta (26 deaths per million), the Netherlands (28), Sweden (29) and the United Kingdom (29).

The most dangerous were Latvia (106), Romania (91), Bulgaria (90) and Lithuania (90).

The EU said it aims to cut the number of road deaths reported in 2010 in half by 2020.

The report also highlighted the risk to pedestrians, who made up 22 percent of road-related deaths in 2013, the most recent year for data.

In Austria, 15 and 16-year-olds have the highest number of casualties in all age groups, with three quarters riding mopeds at the time of the accident.

According to police statistics the biggest cause of fatal accidents on Austria’s roads in 2013 was excessive speed, followed by the driver becoming distracted whilst at the wheel.


 

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