Finland received the 2024 European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) prize for outstanding progress in road safety as the country reduced road deaths by a substantial 29% over the decade to 2023, while the average decline in the EU was just 16%, the European Transport Safety Council said in its press release.

“Finland is the only country in Europe that does an in-depth investigation of every single fatal collision. We congratulate Finland on their progress over the last ten years and hope they will be inspired to redouble their efforts to reach their ambitious targets for the future”, commented Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council.

The EU has set a target to halve the number of road deaths by 2030, based on their level in 2019. Most European countries have similar national targets.

There were 20,418 deaths on EU roads in 2023, a collective decrease of 1% compared to 2022, falling far short of the 6.1% annual reduction needed to achieve the EU target of a 50% reduction by 2030.

18 of the 32 countries monitored by ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Programme saw a decline in road deaths in 2023 compared to 2022. Malta led with a 38% reduction, followed by Luxembourg at 27%, Belgium at 11% and Hungary at 10%. Conversely, road deaths stagnated in two countries, and even increased in 12 countries, with Lithuania experiencing a significant increase of 33%, and Latvia’s deaths increasing by 26%, the report said.