The Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) expects that 2020 will go down in the books with a decrease in the number of road fatalities that is too low compared to 2019. The reduced trips this year have been unable to change that.
The year has not ended yet and the SWOV is based on figures from Statistics Netherlands for the first two quarters of this year, but it seems that there are not many fewer road deaths this year than in 2019. Last year 661 people died in traffic, for this years, the government hoped it would be limited to 500. Unfortunately, this will not be achieved by a long time, SWOV expects. Also in terms of serious injuries, the foundation is again counting on a significantly higher number than the ‘target’ of 10,600. Last year there were 21,400 seriously injured people and that number is even increasing every year. Cyclists and the elderly in particular make up a large proportion of the deaths and serious injuries. SWOV states that, due to the aging population, there are more and more accidents involving cyclists and scooters with serious consequences.
The fact that we traveled less than usual this year has had little or no effect on the number of road deaths and serious injuries. SWOV does see that fewer minor injuries were reported in traffic. The number of minor injuries mainly decreased for pedestrians, car occupants and children. Especially on the national roads there were fewer minor injuries this year.
In general, SWOV sees a worrying trend. Road fatalities barely decrease every year and the number of seriously injured people is even increasing. It is therefore recommended to put more effort into the safer design of roads and to maintain them extra. SWOV sees that the government is starting to invest more money in this and hopes that this will bear fruit in the coming years.