Statistics

Statistics regarding accidents 

• In Sweden, 20,000 people are injured every year in traffic accidents.
• In Sweden, approximately 2,500 people are seriously injured every year in traffic accidents.
• About 40% of those who died in a traffic accident were not wearing their seatbelts when the accident took place.
• About 75% of those who died in a traffic accident in Sweden are men.
• About 60,000 wildlife accidents take place in Sweden every year.
• About 15% of the total population is involved in 50% of all traffic accidents, meaning that this small amount of people (only 15%) causes half of all the accidents.
• About 40% of all the one-car accidents (also called single-vehicle accidents) occur at dawn and when it´s dark.
• About three times as many people die every year in head-on collisions, as compared to in accidents in or in conjunction with junctions.
• Around the 1970s (50 years ago) about 1200 people died every year due to a traffic accident, the previous years there have been approximately 250 deaths per year. Which is a significant decrease, especially when considering the fact that nowadays there is substantially more traffic.
• In 2020 the following number of people died per each given type of accident, from high to low; Single vehicle accident 58, head-on 46, pedestrians 22, bicycles 18, junctions 11, turning 6, wildlife 2, overtaking 0.
• Approximately 100 to 150 lives would be spared every year, if all drivers would keep to the speed limits.

 

General facts regarding injuries 

• When a pedestrian is hit by a car that is driving 30 km/h there is a 10% chance this collision is fatal for the pedestrian. When the car would have been driving 50 km/h, this chance is about 80%. This means that a small increase in speed is significantly more fatal for a pedestrian.

But when a pedestrian is hit by a car that is driving 80 km/h there is almost a 100% chance this collision is fatal for the pedestrian, meaning that the chance of the pedestrian to survive is almost 0%.

• Both 18-19 year olds as 75 years olds and above have a 5-6 times higher risk of being involved in a traffic accident as compared to other age groups. Because 18-19 year olds often overestimate what they can and what they can not do. And at about the age of 75, quickly making decisions and processing a lot of information will become a lot harder.
• Most of the traffic accidents occur in built-up areas where there often is a lot of traffic with a lot of different road users (cars, pedestrians, cyclists, busses, all moving around in a very narrow area).

Most of the serious traffic accidents occur however outside built-up areas, simply because vehicles are generelly allowed to drive much faster there. So most of the accidents (so not 'serious' accidents) take place within built-up areas.

• Most single vehicle accidents on roads with 50 km/h as the speed limit occur during the late hours in the weekends, so the evenings and nights from fridays to saterdays and saterdays to sundays.
• The combination of driver and passengers that has the highest risk of being involved in an accident is a young male driver with several young men as passengers.
• You can reduce the chance of a serious injury by about 50%, in comparison to not using a seatbelt at all.