Road deaths in the Netherlands
Updated
1 September 2023

After a rise in the 1950s and 1960s, the number of road deaths in the
Netherlands has shown a gradual decline since 1973. In the last ten years,
this decline has stagnated. In 2022, there were 745 road deaths in the
Netherlands [i], 163 more than in 2021. This implies that the number of
road deaths reverted to pre-2009 levels.

In 2022, almost four out of ten road deaths were cyclists (290; 39%), and
three out of ten are car occupants (221; 30%). Most road deaths occur among
older road users: in 2022, 402 (54%) were aged 60 or over. By contrast,
relatively few children (0-14 years) are killed in Dutch traffic; in 2022,
23 (3%) were killed.

When comparing the number of road deaths for different subgroups (e.g. age,
mode of transport, road type), it should be borne in mind that, in any
case, the number of crash casualties depends on the distance travelled: the
more people travel, the more frequently they may be involved in crashes.
The number of casualties also depends on the safety characteristics of this
exposure: roads are either safe or less safe and the same goes for
vehicles. In addition, traffic behaviour also affects the probability of
being involved in a crash. The number of road deaths in a particular
subgroup is, therefore, not just determined by how ‘dangerous’ road use is
for that subgroup (the risk of that specific age group, gender, mode of
transport or road type), but also by the distance travelled by that
subgroup (by that mode of transport, on that road type, etc.).

[i] These are the final figures from Statistics Netherlands. They are
higher than the 737 road deaths published by Statistics Netherlands in
April 2023.

<https://swov.nl/en/fact-sheet/road-deaths-netherlands>

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Spike