New figures have revealed 675 people died in road crashes in the Netherlands last year, slightly fewer than in 2023.
The data from Statistics Netherland (CBS) also revealed of these, 246 were cyclists. The highest number of fatal road crash victims were people aged 80 and over.
In 2023 684 people were killed in road crashes in the country.
Director of the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Martin Damen, said: “When you compare the 2024 figures with those from 2000, the drop is indeed substantial—42%. But, it is important to realize that this decrease mainly took place in the first decade.
“As of 2010, the number of road deaths has actually stopped declining. Most gains were achieved in the early 2000s, or actually just before that, due to the implementation of the Sustainable Road Safety vision—perhaps the most successful road safety strategy we’ve ever had, that later became globally recognized as the ‘safe system approach’.â€
Damen added: “The Dutch Strategic Road Safety Plan launched in 2018 offered comparable tools for road authorities to take road safety measures. Seeing that the plan is about to expire, it would be great to see this get a follow-up plan, or we might risk missing the transition to a renewed decline in road deaths.â€
Based on the CBS figures, SWOV said the main risk groups remained largely unchanged: cyclists, the elderly, and particularly older cyclists.
