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Cyprus road fatalities higher than EU average

fatal accident limassol
File photo

Cyprus road deaths were above the EU average in 2020 and 2021 despite a drop in the numbers of estimated deaths last year, Eurostat data showed on Monday.

In its report, the statistical office of the European Union revealed there is a higher incidents of road fatalities in rural areas which are sparsely populated.

In 2020, there were 19,102 road fatalities, equivalent to 43 road fatalities per million inhabitants in the EU, and no less than 935 555 injuries on EU’s roads (excluding Ireland).

Data shows that 112 out of 239 NUTS level 2 regions recorded an incidence of road fatalities that was below the EU average, while 123 (or 51.5% of all regions) had a value that was above. There were four regions that had the same number of road fatalities per million inhabitants as the EU average.

Some of the highest incidence rates for road fatalities in 2020 were recorded in rural regions, with the highest incidence rates being mostly located in Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, outermost regions of France, Poland and Romania.

By contrast, urban regions tended to report a much lower incidence of road fatalities. According to Eurostat, this may be linked to lower average speeds: for example, there may be lower speed limits in built-up areas while motorway networks in and around major conurbations may be frequently congested.

In Cyprus, which for statistical purposes is considered by Eurostat as a single NUTS 2 region, the frequency of road deaths in 2020 was 54 per million inhabitants.

Meanwhile, this is slightly higher than the 50 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2021, which is also above the EU average of 44 per million inhabitants for that year. The number of estimated deaths fell by 13 per cent between 2019 and 2021 to reach the lowest rate on record.

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