Significantly more seriously injured people due to traffic accidents in 2022

In 2022, 8,300 people were seriously injured in traffic. That in itself is a lot of people, especially if you compare it to the number in 2021. This is an increase of more than 20 percent, in 2021 there were 6,800 seriously injured in traffic. The vast majority of injured people in 2022 were cyclists, mainly aged 60 or older. This is evident from a new report from the national scientific research agency for road safety SWOV.

In April of this year it emerged that the number of road deaths in 2022 had also increased significantly compared to a year earlier. There were a total of 745 traffic fatalities last year, 163 more than in 2021. Many cyclists died in particular. As many as 39 percent of the traffic fatalities were cyclists and of the seriously injured this was 70 percent. More than half of both road deaths and seriously injured people in 2022 were people over 60, SWOV says.

Many deaths on 30 roads

It is also striking that in 2022 many deaths occurred on roads with a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour, namely around 100. Compared to the period 2019-2021, this is an increase of 86 percent. The number of cycling fatalities in particular on these roads has risen steadily over the past ten years, SWOV notes.

For the time being, 2023 appears to be on track to be a year with slightly fewer road fatalities, but the number of injuries appears to remain approximately the same, according to SWOV. SWOV fears ‘a negative road safety development’ and states that additional measures are needed to turn the tide. “Without additional measures, the number of road fatalities appears to stabilize towards 2040 (and therefore not to decline further) and the numbers of serious road injuries are expected to rise sharply, possibly doubling in 2040.” Examples of effective measures are “a safer infrastructure, protection of vulnerable road users and greater enforcement of safe traffic behavior”, according to SWOV.