Greece is not the worst offender in Europe when it comes to road accidents

Although Greece has a relatively high rate of road accidents, according to the latest data from Eurostat, Belgium is the worst offender, with the highest incidence rates (171 road fatalities per million inhabitants) recorded in the province of Luxembourg.

Belgium is followed by Região Autónoma da Madeira (165) and Alentejo (156) in Portugal whilst the lowest incidence rates were recorded in Wien in Austria (6), Stockholm in Sweden (9) and Berlin in Germany (11).

On fatal road accidents Greece is at the range of 85 - 259 per million inhabitants, while on road injuries it sits between 257 - 1213.8.

The EU’s roads are among the safest in the world and have generally become safer over time. That said, road safety remains a major societal issue: in 2019, there were, on average, 52 road fatalities per million inhabitants across the EU.

To address the issue of road safety, the EU has adopted Vision Zero, which aims to reduce the number of deaths on the EU’s roads to almost zero by 2050. The strategy has set the initial goal of cutting in half the number of fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.

Between 2009 and 2019, the incidence rate for road fatalities in the EU fell by almost one third (-32%). This downward development was repeated in more than 9 out of every 10 regions for which data are available.

The most rapid declines were recorded in Ciudad de Melilla in Spain (-100%), while two regions in Greece (Sterea Ellada and Anatoliki Makedonia, Thraki), Wien in Austria, Västsverige in Sweden, and Luxembourg also recorded falls of more than 60%. By contrast, there were 19 regions across the EU where the incidence rate for road fatalities increased during the period under consideration.