Traffic Fatalities in Road Accidents in Austria – Current Status

Figure shows the trend for the current year and previous years.

The data basis is the current status of the number of traffic fatalities published at the beginning of each week by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The figure compares preliminary numbers, since those who die later from accident consequences (30-day rule) are added retroactively over the course of the year. After the end of the year, this is done retrospectively, which leads to the usually steep increase in the last week of the year toward the year-end total. The forecast is based on weekly results from January 1, 2009 to the end of the previous year.

Brief interpretation:

In the years 2016 to 2019, the annual number of traffic fatalities changed very little—the fluctuations appear rather random and do not indicate a systematic trend toward higher road safety.

In 2020, this development initially continued. However, with the COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, the weekly numbers of fatalities decreased significantly. Overall, one can assume that in these two years there were around 100 fewer traffic fatalities than would have been expected without the pandemic.

The year 2022 was highly unusual: Well into the summer, it looked as though—similar to 2016–2019—over 400 people would die in road accidents. Starting around September, however, the increase in fatalities flattened noticeably. The reasons for this are unclear. Unlike during the lockdowns, there was no substantial reduction in traffic volumes. Weather effects are also unlikely, as October, November, and December were unusually mild. Perhaps average speeds on Austria’s roads decreased at least slightly? Did people occasionally drive more slowly (to save fuel) due to high fuel prices? Or did the “speeding package” implemented on September 1, 2022, with its severe penalties for excessive speeding, have an effect? Even a slight reduction in average speed disproportionately reduces the probability of fatal accidents.

The positive trend from autumn 2022 unfortunately did not continue in 2023. It resembled the years before the pandemic again.

The year 2024 was again atypical: The first half of the year developed positively; by the end of June, the number of fatalities up to that point was the lowest to date—even lower than in the two pandemic years. Over the summer, however, up to the end of September, the increase in fatalities was stronger than in almost all previous years, and then—similar to autumn 2022—leveled off again. Even if a conclusive explanation is still lacking, fewer people died in road accidents on Austria’s roads in 2024 than in (with one exception) all previous years of the last decades.

Up to about mid-March, 2025 promised similarly favorable conditions as at the beginning of 2024. Immediately afterward, however, and especially from June to October and again in December, fatalities rose sharply, so that by the end of the year the number of people killed in road traffic accidents returned to the level seen in the years before the pandemic.

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