A new report from the SWOV Institute for Road Safety has revealed a rising trend in serious road injuries in the Netherlands.
In 2023, the Netherlands recorded an estimated 7,400 serious road injuries, a figure that the organization said was lower than in 2022, but continued an upward trend compared to previous years.
Serious road injuries in the Netherlands are defined as those requiring hospital admission with a maximum severity of three or more on the medical injury scale AIS. This estimate is derived from a combination of the national road crash registration and the national hospital discharge register.
SWOV said the impact of these injuries was significant, representing 20,500 years lived with disability and added: “Notably, cyclists account for 70% of these serious injuries, with the majority occurring in crashes that did not involve a motor vehicle.
“Additionally, almost 60% of the seriously injured road users were aged 60 or over, and 16% were aged 80 or over.”
The organization said the statistics highlighted the ongoing challenges in improving road safety for vulnerable groups, particularly older adults and cyclists.
