Post-corona effect
There seems to be no question of a ‘new normal’ after the period with corona measures – at least in traffic. Not only is traffic congestion increasing, the number of road casualties is also rising sharply. In fact, in the first full quarter after the abolition of the last restrictions (Q2 2022), there were more victims than was previously recorded in a second quarter according to the relevant registration method.
This registration method is called STAR (Smart Traffic Accident Reporting), has been applied since 2014 and is the result of a collaboration between the police, insurers and VIA, a traffic software developer. Traffic accident figures based on police data are used for this. The most recent figures published by the STAR show that the number of road casualties will increase rapidly in 2022. That after there were fewer victims in 2020 and 2021 – for obvious reasons.
In the first half of this year, according to police data, there were 270 fatalities and 11,473 people injured in an accident. Most of these victims fell in the second quarter of the year. Q2 2022 even sets a record: since the application of the STAR, in other words 2014, there have never been so many victims in the second quarter of the year. If the high figures continue, we could easily be back to square one by the end of this calendar year: in 2017, 2018 and 2019, there were 535, 573 and 556 road deaths, respectively, according to the STAR registration. In 2020 and 2021 there were 513 and 514.
Not positive for years
The traffic accident figures have not shown a significant decrease for a number of years. While the numbers have steadily declined since the 1990s due to safer roads and cars, the decline leveled off in the years before the corona period – despite the fact that cars are still getting safer. This flattening is mainly due to increased traffic and the increasing popularity of e-bikes and smartphones (in traffic).
Over the past 5.5 years, most road injuries have been cyclists. People with a higher age are strongly represented in this group. Most of the deaths are among motorists, of which a significant proportion is found among younger drivers. In addition, 28 percent of road casualties are between 12 and 24 years old and 64 percent of them belong to vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and moped or moped riders).
Looking at the number of victims per province, in view of last week’s news, something striking is going on. Where it turned out that motorists in South Holland least often exceed the speed limit and those in Flevoland most often, the roles have been reversed here: South Holland has the most victims per 100,000 inhabitants and the fewest in Flevoland. In South Holland the number of victims is 2.6 times higher than in the polder. This may have to do with population density.
| Year | Number of road deaths* |
| 2006 | 811 |
| 2007 | 791 |
| 2008 | 750 |
| 2009 | 720 |
| 2010 | 640 |
| 2011 | 661 |
| 2012 | 650 |
| 2013 | 570 |
| 2014 | 570 |
| 2015 | 621 |
| 2016 | 629 |
| 2017 | 613 |
| 2018 | 678 |
| 2019 | 661 |
| 2020 | 610 |
| 2021 | 582 |
* = The figures in this table deviate from the figures we mention in the running text. The figures in the running text are from the STAR and are based on police data. The figures in the table are from Statistics Netherlands and are based on several data sets, including hospital data. In the table, the figures from Statistics Netherlands have been used to indicate the development of the number of road casualties over a longer period.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl