Latest insights reveal Romania, Bulgaria, and Luxembourg as home to Europe’s most dangerous roads for drivers.
Analysing data from the last 10 years, SNAP, the haulage industry’s leading smart payment provider, has established a hazard rating for Europe’s roads, by comparing the average yearly fatal collision rate to the country’s total road network:
|
Ranking |
Country |
Hazard Rating |
| 1 |
Romania |
13281 |
| 2 |
Bulgaria |
10773 |
|
3
|
Luxembourg |
9589 |
| 4 |
Croatia |
9518 |
| 5 |
Great Britain |
7940 |
|
6
|
Lithuania |
6050 |
|
7
|
Portugal |
5799 |
| 8 |
Italy |
5632 |
|
9
|
Greece |
5620 |
|
10
|
Poland |
5125 |
The analysis places Romania in the number 1 spot, with over 132 yearly fatalities per 10,000km of road, more than 3 times the European average of 37. Most of these collisions occurred in daylight, with a quarter of accidents across the EU taking place between 15-17:00 hours.
The countries with the least dangerous roads, with less than 15 fatal crashes per 10,000km of road, include Latvia [14.3], Estonia [6.4] and Sweden [3.8].
Aligning to SNAP’s findings, Sweden significantly advocates for road safety, implementing ‘Vision Zero’ in 1997. The mission toward zero fatalities and serious injuries caused by road accidents has been backed by the UN, who have encouraged nations globally to commit to meeting the goal by 2050.
For this goal to be met, there needs to be an integral improvement to road safety across Europe. Despite a 17% EU-wide decline in fatal accidents through the pandemic, figures have already begun to increase, and are predicted to have risen by an additional 10% in 2022.
Mark Garner, Managing Director at SNAP comments, “We have created the new hazard rating so we can warn drivers of the most treacherous roads to be driving on in Europe. But the harsh reality is that there are no safe zones. All roads across the continent carry inherent risks, and drivers need to be continually resilient to changing driving conditions and in-country laws and regulations. We recommend that drivers familiarise themselves with road laws and their planned route in advance of setting off.
This is especially essential for those in the haulage industry who are used to driving for exceptionally long distances, on roads they are less familiar with. They may be unaware of the best places that they are able to park up and take a well-earned break from driving. This is why SNAP has developed the Intruck app, which features over 5,000 truck stops, designed to navigate drivers to dedicated places for rest and relaxation so they can keep their focus on the road ahead.”
For an in-depth analysis of SNAP’s full rankings, and a visualisation of the countries home to Europe’s most hazardous highways for truckers, visit https://snapacc.com/hazardous-highways.