The number of road deaths decreased slightly in 2019 compared to the previous year. Although this is positive news, a negative trend can also be observed on the basis of new figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). However, the number of people in their twenties and thirties who died in traffic increased considerably last year.
Last year, 661 people died in a road accident in the Netherlands. Fortunately, that number is lower than the number of road fatalities in 2018, in that year 17 road fatalities were more regrettable. The percentage decrease is therefore 2.5 percent. Then the bad news: in the 20-40 age group, 183 people died in a road accident. A percentage increase of 24 percent. A year earlier, this number was still 147 people. Most road casualties were passenger car occupants (237); 168 drivers and 69 passengers. In addition, 203 cyclists, 52 motorcyclists, 49 pedestrians, 42 mobility scooter drivers and 42 moped and moped riders died, among others. Half of the total number of road fatalities was 60 or older. This number decreased from 350 fatalities in 2018 to 324 last year, last year.
The number of fatalities within the 20-40 age group in a passenger car has increased. In 2018, there were 80 road deaths, last year at 93. More motorcyclists (from 24 to 32) and moped riders (from 3 to 11) aged between twenty and forty were also killed. For other age groups, too, more road deaths occurred with these vehicles. Statistics Netherlands has no explanation for the increase.
A third bicycle fatality had an e-bike
Despite the increase in the number of people in their twenties and thirties who die in traffic, about half of the road deaths are still above sixty. People in that age group are relatively often killed in a bicycle accident. The number of fatalities in this age category did decrease from 350 in 2018 to 324 in 2019. A year earlier, this number had increased by 62.
The total number of cyclists who died in 2019 did decrease from 228 to 203. It is striking that a third of the bicycle deaths (65) drove an e-bike. In 2018, 57 people who rode an e-bike died.
The number of road deaths between the ages of forty and sixty fell from 126 in 2018 to 105 in 2019. The decrease is mainly due to the fact that fewer cyclists in this age group die. The number of bicycle deaths between the ages of forty and sixty decreased by almost half, from 46 to 24.
North Brabant
Most fatal road accidents occurred in the province of Noord-Brabant. In 2019, 142 people died there. That is eight less than a year earlier. In the past year, 87 traffic fatalities occurred in Gelderland and Noord-Holland. In South Holland, the number of victims fell from 100 to 85. The least victims were in Flevoland, Groningen and Zeeland.
In 2018, the number of road fatalities among men increased sharply, from 453 to 485. This number decreased slightly last year. However, many more men than women were still killed. In 2019, 465 men died in traffic. 196 victims were women.