News

The annual analysis report of traffic safety developments in Sweden is now published. The report presents and analyzes Sweden’s traffic safety developments in 2020. The report has been prepared by an analysis group consisting of analysts from the Swedish Transport Agency, the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) and the Swedish Transport Administration.

In 2020, 204 people was killed in the Swedish transport system. It is very difficult to calculate with certainty the impact that the pandemic has had on the road safety development. During the period 2007-2020, the number of fatalities has more than halved (60 percent) despite the fact that traffic has increased by almost 8.5 percent and the population by 10 percent. The categories in which there has been the greatest reduction in the number of fatalities are in passenger cars and pedestrians. Some success factors have been development of safer roads, vehicles and environments for pedestrians.

During this year, there was a positive development of an increased share of meeting separations, lowered speed limits on 1200 km roads and an increased number of traffic safety cameras. On the other hand, speed compliance remains low, even though we have seen an improvement of 2.5 percentage points compared to 2019. The proportion of drunk drivers who die in accidents is still high and the proportion of drug-related accidents is increasing.

The number of seriously injured was 3,600 people, a decrease compared to 2019 (3,800 seriously injured). Half of the seriously injured are cyclists, which indicates that more focus is needed on safe walking and cycling passages, maintenance and the use of bicycle helmets.