Romanian roads most dangerous in EU

Romania is the most dangerous place for driving in the EU by a massive margin, according to a survey of the 27 member states by the European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC)

The number of deaths in road collision is 44 per billion kilometres of roads travelled by cars – the next highest mortality rate in the EU is in Latvia, with 26 fatalities.
Compared to the safest nation in the EU, there are nine times as many chances of dying on the road in Romania as in Sweden.
In Romania 2,796 people died in road collisions in 2009, compared to 3,063 in 2008 and to 2,794 in 2007. There was in an eight per cent drop in 2009 compared to 2008, in line with international trends which saw lower car use due to the global GDP slump.
Romania also tops the list of the number of road deaths per one million inhabitants – which is 130, almost double the EU average 70.
The most common reason for road deaths in the EU are drink driving, the non-wearing of seat belts and speeding.
In Romania deaths by drink driving were 218 in 2009 – among the highest among 19 countries surveyed. “In Italy, Israel, Portugal, Romania, Finland and Estonia, developments in drink driving deaths have appreciably slowed down overall progress in reducing road deaths,” reads the ETSC report. “Governments of these countries need to attend to this trend and adopt a comprehensive strategy to tackle alcohol at the wheel.”
In Romania, transport police issued 51 speed tickets per 1,000 population in 2009 – this is around the EU average and compares to ten in Bulgaria and 558 in the Netherlands.
Seat belt wearing rates are not regularly collected in Romania.

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There are 2 comments: CJB: (mdiom@hotmail.com) on 2010-07-18 22:15:45 Seat belt rates - about 30% of drivers wear seat belts in the Botosani area, among the most obvious offenders are the police and public service drivers! I was stood waiting for a bus on one of the main routes and started to count, maybe it was a bad day, I don't think so - belt up everyone!!! Davin Ellicson: (davinellicson@mac.com) on 2010-08-24 19:07:20 I was just driving around Transylvania and the police are largely absent. A Dacia Logan is always situated in the center of every village and cars slow down for it, but once out of site Romanians often drive in excess of 150 kph on roads designed for around 80 kph. It doesn't seem like rocket science to me: if you want safer roads and fewer deaths then the Romanian police should enforce speed limits outside villages and police proactively like in the US where the police actively chase speeders. In Romania, the police only set up check points that every one learns about by others flashing their lights. Romanian police would do better to sit camouflaged on the side of the road outside villages and surprise speeders by staging pursuits once they drive by.   ADD A COMMENT   Name Email Comment Validation Code