The number of major accidents on the roads in Russia went up with 5 percent compared with the first eight months 2011. The figures were presented by deputy chief of the traffic police Vladimir Kuzin.
“In the eight months of 2012, a total of 129,121 major traffic accidents were registrated. A total of 17,058 people were killed in these accidents, and some 16,000 people were injured,” Vladimir Kuzin told Itar-Tass.
That is an increase in number of killed by 2,3 percent compared with last year.
On average in the European Union, the number of lives lost in road traffic accidents has fallen by 31 percent from the year 2000. In Europe, the highest number of fatalities in road accidents is found in Eastern Europe, Greek and Spain, according to the overview from Eurostat.
In total last year, a total of 26,567 died in traffic accidents in Russia. Despite better and safer cars, Russia is still far after the other three Barents member countries when counting road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants. For 2011 Russia had 18,5 compared with 6,5 in Finland, 5,4 in Norway and 2,9 in Sweden.
