Road deaths down sharply during lockdown

The number of road deaths fell by a third during lockdowns this spring but traffic was down by a half, according to indicative figures published by the International Transport Forum in its Road Safety Annual Report 2020.

Reductions in traffic fatalities of 80 per cent were recorded in three countries, and five countries saw crash fatalities fall by more than 50 per cent in a comparison of April this year’s data with April last year for 20 countries.

The strongest drops, according to the report occurred in New Zealand, -80 per cent, Italy, -79 per cent and South Africa, -78 per cent . These were also among the counties with the severest lockdowns in place. Eleven of the 20 countries included in the overview saw a reduction of 24% or more.

Only four countries registered no or only negligible reductions: Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. The latter three saw a small increase in the number of road deaths despite significant falls in traffic. That said, these countries have among the lowest number of road deaths in the world so that small changes in absolute numbers lead to significant percentage changes. As the range of figures underlines, outcomes depend very much on local circumstances.

The drop in crash fatalities was steep, but not proportional to the fall in traffic.

The number of road deaths fell by just under one third (32 per cent) on average across all countries, while total kilometres driven decreased by more than half (-53 per cent ) in April this year compared to April last year .

While passenger cars were mostly off the street during lockdown, many trucks continued to operate. Crashes with heavy goods vehicle tend to be more serious than those involving cars.

The International Transport Forum is an intergovernmental organisation with 60 member countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers.