LEVELS OF ROAD SAFETY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS SPATIAL DIVERSITY

Abstract

Road safety is one of the most important global social issues. According to data from the United Nations, every year, around 1.2 million people worldwide die as a result of road accidents; that is, on average, one person dies every 30 seconds. Children and teenagers make up 40% of the fatalities. An additional 30–50 million people are injured as a result of these accidents; some of them become permanently disabled. The main types of accident risks are well documented; they concern a large range of factors, most often related to the behavior of drivers, especially in terms of speed. This article ranks the European Union countries in 2004 and 2018 by their levels of road safety. Four groups of countries are distinguished: very high, moderate, low, and very low levels of road safety.