Credit: STATEC

On the occassion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on 20 November, established by the United Nations in 2005, Luxembourg's statistics institute STATEC published a report on the circumstances of road accidents in the Grand Duchy in last ten years.

According to this report, between 2012 to 2021, 315 people lost their lives on Luxembourg's roads, 2,729 were seriously injured and 9,669 escaped with minor injuries.

Half of road accidents (50%) were collisions between moving vehicles, 17% between a vehicle and a pedestrian, 13% against a fixed obstacle and 9% against a tree. Collisions against a tree are the most formidable; 47% were fatal or resulted into serious injury. Accidents involving two-wheelers also resulted in fatal or serious injury in 40% of cases, and collisions against a fixed obstacle, which were fatal in 35% of cases.

The cantons of Esch-sur-Alzette and Luxembourg have experienced the highest number of injury accidents over the past ten years, 3,027 and 2,320 respectively, including 1,473 in the Luxembourg City. Accidents in these two cantons represent more than half of the injuries occurring in Luxembourg. Next come the cantons of Capellen and Grevenmacher, with 734 and 531 accidents respectively. The canton of Vianden was the least affected, with 97 injury accidents between 2012 and 2021.

According to the severity of the accidents, 79% of the injuries occurring in the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette and 75% of those occurring in Luxembourg City were minor accidents. Accidents that occurred in the cantons of Redange, Wiltz and Clervaux on the other hand were the most serious, even the most deadly. In the canton of Wiltz, 9% of accidents were fatal and 8% in that of Redange and Clervaux. Nationwide, 3% of accidents were fatal, 26% caused serious bodily injury and 71% minor injury.

49% of accidents occurred on two-lane roads located inside localities, 34% outside localities and 8% on highways (including 2% on highway slip roads).

Accidents on two-lane roads outside localities were more serious than those occurring on highways or within localities. In fact, 38%, 30% and 22% of these accidents were fatal or serious, respectively. Accidents on local roads or cycle paths outside localities represent only 1% of total accidents, but they are the most serious since 41% of them resulted in serious injury or death. Additionally, 4% of accidents took place in a roundabout, 24% in a bend and 27% on a crossing.

The full report is available online via https://statistiques.public.lu/fr/publications/series/regards/2022/regards-10-22.html.