A record few people were killed in traffic accidents in Denmark last year. The shutdown of society during the corona pandemic is believed to be part of the explanation.
A total of 130 people will lose their lives on Danish roads in 2021, according to statistics from the Danish Road Directorate, which was released on Thursday. This is the lowest number registered since statistics began to be kept almost 100 years ago. The year before, the death toll was 163 people.
But despite extensive restrictions and closures of society at the beginning of 2021, the total number of road users was more than before the pandemic. Marianne Foldberg Steffensen, head of department at the Danish Road Directorate, still believes that the pandemic may have contributed to the figures.
– Perhaps many motorists have taken the concern for corona out into the traffic, and this has limited the number of fatal accidents, she says.
– But we have a hard time pointing out a concrete reason for the development, so we will investigate this in more detail in the future.
In Sweden, 210 people died in traffic accidents in 2021. This can be compared with 204 people in 2020.