Logically speaking, one might think that traffic should be most dangerous in winter, when rain, snow and darkness make conditions more difficult.
So far this year, however, this has not been the case, preliminary statistics from the Swedish Transport Agency show. Instead, it is during the month of May that most people die in traffic.
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29 people died during May
During May this year, 29 people died in traffic in Sweden and a further 1,292 people were injured, of which 172 were seriously injured.
This is the highest death toll in the month of May in the last five years.
Last year, 27 people died in the month of May, and the year before, 21 people died in traffic during the same month. During the pandemic years, traffic fatalities during the month of May were significantly lower. 12 people died in 2021, and 18 in 2020.
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Single accidents and collision accidents most common
Of those who died in traffic in May, about half, more precisely 15 people, were in a car. Of those who died, 20 were men and 9 were women.
Eleven of the dead were so-called unprotected road users, i.e. for example pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or moped riders.
Three of the dead were under 20 years old, while eleven of the dead were over 65 years old. The most common types of accidents in the case of deaths are head-on accidents and single-vehicle accidents.
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More people die in the summer
Contrary to what you might think, according to the Swedish Transport Agency, more people die in traffic in the summer than in the winter, which is underlined by the figures for the month of May.
– We see a similar development to last year, when the number of traffic fatalities also skyrocketed in connection with the fine weather during May and June, says the Swedish Transport Agency’s statistician Staffan Berge.
The fact that more people die in traffic in the summer is believed to be partly due to the fact that during this period there are more unprotected road users and motorcyclists out on the road.
During the first four years of the year, however, the number of deaths in traffic was a record low, with 44 deaths. If you include May, the figure comes to 73 dead people.
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