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Greece first in motorcycle fatalities among EU members

Featured Greece first in motorcycle fatalities among EU members

Another sad first for Greece in terms of people being sacrificed on the asphalt altar. According to Eurostat data released Tuesday, Greece recorded the highest level of fatalities in motorcycle accidents in 2017 (20 deaths per million inhabitants). In contrast, in neighboring Bulgaria (2016 figures) and Estonia the figure is zero.

Overall traffic deaths in the European Union (EU) are estimated to have reached 25,000 people in 2017, equivalent to 50 fatalities per million inhabitants. The annual death toll on EU roads has been around 25,000 since 2013, a continuation of a steady decline from the negative record of 43,000 in 2007.

Passenger deaths on European roads accounted for almost half of all traffic accidents in 2017 (46%), followed by pedestrian deaths (21%), motorcyclists (15%), cyclists (8%) and other road transport deaths (10%).

Bulgaria ranks highest in the category of passenger car accidents, with 64 deaths per million inhabitants (2016 figures), almost six times higher than that of Malta (11 deaths also with 2016 figures).

The level of pedestrian fatalities is higher in Romania (37 deaths per million inhabitants) and lower in Denmark (three).

Finally, in terms of the number of cyclists killed in traffic as a proportion of the population, the highest level is in Romania (10 deaths per million inhabitants) and the lowest is zero, recorded in Cyprus (2016 figures) and Luxembourg.