Improvement continues in the West, and there is mixed progress in Eastern and Central European countries, but results are still worrying in the Community of Independent States
12 April 2023
Preliminary data available from ECMT Member Countries reveal considerable divergence in the evolution of road safety in European countries in 2003. While road safety continues to improve significantly in Western European countries and seems to be moving towards real progress [against] road fatalities in Central and Eastern Europe, road safety indicators continue to deteriorate in CIS countries.
In Western Europe, road traffic fatalities declined in 2003 by 5.9%, the best result recorded for the last 15 years. This significant decrease was further strengthened in 2003 by drops in the number of injured (-4.5%) and accidents (-3.7%), thereby maintaining the favorable trend since 2001 for these two indicators.
In Central and Eastern Europe, fatalities decreased by 2.9% in 2003. This result puts those countries back on the promising trends of 2000 and 2001. Conversely, injuries and accidents increased significantly by 2.4% and 2.7%, respectively.
Once again, the Community of Independent States was confronted in 2003 with an essential rise of 6.5% in the number of people killed on the roads, reinforcing the already bad results of the previous year.
Behind these [overall] figures lie significant variations from one country to another, as the following tables show:
Western European countries | Number of Deaths | Trends 2003/2002 |
| Austria | 931 | – 2.6% |
| Denmark | 432 | – 6.7% |
| Finland | 379 | – 8.7% |
| France | 5,731 | -20.9% |
| Germany | 6,613 | – 3.4% |
| Greece | 1,615 | – 4.7% |
| Iceland | 22 | -24.1% |
| Ireland | 337 | -10.4% |
| Liechtenstein | 5 | —– |
| Luxembourg | 53 | -14.5% |
| Malta | 16 | 0.0% |
| Netherlands | 1,028 | + 4.2% |
| Norway | 280 | – 9.7% |
| Portugal | 1,356 | – 7.7% |
| Spain | 5,399 | + 1.0% |
| Sweden | 529 | – 5.5% |
| Switzerland | 546 | + 6.4% |
| United Kingdom | 3,658 | + 2.2% |
| Turkey | 3,966** | – 3.1% |
| Total | 32,896 | – 5.9% |
Central and Eastern European countries | Number of Deaths | Trends 2003/2002 |
| Albania | 264 | + 5.6% |
| Bulgaria | 960 | + 0.1% |
| Croatia | 701 | +11.8% |
| Czech Republic | 1,447 | + 1.1% |
| Estonia | 164 | -26.8% |
| F Y R Macedonia | 118 | -33.0% |
| Hungary | 1,326 | – 7.2% |
| Latvia | 493 | – 4.8% |
| Lithuania | 709 | + 1.7% |
| Poland | 5,640 | – 3.2% |
| Romania | 2,235 | – 6.8% |
| Serbia and Montenegro | 858 | + 1.3% |
| Slovak Republic | 653 | + 4.3% |
| Slovenia | 242 | – 9.7% |
| Total | 15,810 | – 2.9% |
CIS countries | Number of Deaths | Trends 2003/2002 |
| Azerbaijan | 718 | +11.8% |
| Belarus | 1,763 | + 2.0% |
| Georgia | 572 | +11.1% |
| Moldova | 425 | + 3.2% |
| Russian Federation | 35,600 | + 6.6% |
| Total | 39,078 | + 6.5% |
Source: ECMT Press Release 12/10/04