Belgium’s safer roads see casualty reduction

Belgium is benefiting from a much-needed gain in road safety. The country has had the worst record for road safety of any Western European nation for some years but now appears to be addressing the issue with positive results being achieved. Road deaths for the first six months of 2018 dropped by 14% to 191 compared with 221 for the same period in the previous year. The number of injuries arising from road crashes dropped 1.7% to 23,458 for the first six months of 2018, compared with 23,865 for the same period in 2017. Meanwhile the number of crashes involving road deaths or serious injuries fell by 0.6% to 18,646 for the first six months of 2018, compared with 18,754 for the first six months of 2017. Of concern is that road deaths occurring during the daytime at weekends increased by 4%. On a more positive note, road deaths during night-time over the weekend fell by 13%. The data has been released by the Belgian road safety institute, Vias.