Road fatalities in Belgium continue to show a significant decrease

Vias Institute pointed out the decrease of fatal road accidents in Belgium in 2018.

Vias Institute, which releases reports on road safety in Belgium, has pointed out improvements when it comes to the number of road fatalities. In a recent report, it indeed highlights a decrease of fatal road accidents in Belgium over the 9 first months of 2018:  – 4.6%.

Belgium might have reached the best number over the last ten years in 2018, after the 2017 report revealed an historical decrease of road fatalities last year.

During the three first quarters of 2018, 333 people lost their life on Belgian roads (before the victim goes to the hospital). A year before, this figure reached 349.

While we could be happy about those statistics, this is not the end of the story. The goal, both at the national and the EU level, has been to halve the road fatalities from 2010 to 2020. The Belgian authorities aim to reach the target of 420 deaths in 2020, while 620 people died last year, the Vias’ statistics pointed out.

This global picture also reveals different realities. The bike-users and motorcycle-users have faced more fatal accidents than they faced last year.

Good news, however, when it comes to the youth. The number of accidents involving a young driver (18-24 years-old) has decreased by 8% if you compare this 2018 report with the 2017 report.

It is also worth underlying the fact that the number of injured people has never been as low as it is now over the past ten years (35,725 during the three first quarters of 2018).

While that news is quite positive for Belgium, the trend should be accelerated if the Belgian authorities want to achieve their goals by 2020.