Road safety trends in the European Union and Hungary

Road safety trends in the European Union and Hungary have shown significant fluctuations recently. Accidents and injuries increased until 2018, followed by a plateau in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictive measures led to a substantial reduction in road traffic, which in turn affected accident rates. Between 2021 and 2024, no sustained, multi-year improvement was observed in accident and injury rates. As a result, the decade-long targets—halving the number of road traffic fatalities and serious injuries—have been drifting further from the actual outcomes. This article analyses the trends in road traffic accidents, the proportion of fatal and injury crashes, and accident statistics disaggregated by age group and gender.