While Luxembourg can certainly be considered a pioneering country in certain areas, there are others where the Grand Duchy could learn a thing or two from other nations. Denmark could for instance serve as an example on how to improve road safety.

Road safety is a major issue in Luxembourg. Not only is the number of road fatalities on the rise, but the country is facing ever increasing problems in terms of road congestion as well.

The European Commission assessed in its latest report that with 60 road fatalities per one million inhabitants, Luxembourg's situation regarding road safety has "deteriorated". What makes this already harsh verdict even worse is that this was during a year (2018) when all indicators were on the decline in the rest of the European Union.

The Grand Duchy is thus part of the bad apples when it comes to road safety in the EU. This is in stark contrast to for example Denmark, which only recorded 30 road fatalities per one million inhabitants. Considering this data, it may be time to reconsider the road safety measures taken by the Luxembourgish government over the past years.

No correlation between high speeds and high mortality rates

In fact, while Luxembourg went all in on speed controls and the installation of new speed cameras, Denmark actually raised its speed limits. The result: The mortality rate was two times higher in the Grand Duchy than in Denmark in 2018.

Carte radars

However, a significant decrease was recorded in 2019: "only" 22 road fatalities in Luxembourg. According to the experts from the European Commission, the country's small size is the reason behind this drop. On this matter the report states that figures shift significantly from one year to the next.

Meanwhile, "40 million drivers" praise the decisions taken by the Danish authorities. The report states that Denmark has chosen to invest in the installation of numerous crash barriers, the systematic doubling of speed limit signs on both sides of the road as well as the use of audio-tactile warning strips on the trajectory of road user to prevent them from leaving the road due to inattentiveness.

All of this in the context of an overall road infrastructure described as "exemplary". However, Luxembourg does seem to have picked up some of the Danish concepts, or that is at least the impression one could get when reading over the action plan that was published last May.

More and more speed cameras

The so-called "Vision Zéro" strategy includes making road infrastructure safer to use, refurbishing certain 30 km/h zones, and promoting driver assistance systems.

According to this plan, the road safety association wants to continue investing in speed cameras, e.g. by installing them at red lights, inside tunnels, or on dangerous road sections. Good news for all those who fervently believe that the recent decline in road fatalities is due to the installation of such devices on Luxembourg's roads.

In reality, however, the data does not support this theory. In fact, road fatalities have significantly decreased since the year 2000 and thus long before the installation of stationary speed cameras in 2016. There have been a number of temporary spikes between 2009 and 2013.

RTL

© Sécurité routière

While a decrease in fatal road accidents has been observed since 2016, severe accidents have increased over the same period of time. The efficiency of speed cameras can thus certainly be put into question.

In the meantime, Luxembourg's road mortality figures are far from encouraging. 17 people have already lost their lives on the Grand Duchy's roads this year and this despite the ongoing pandemic, which substantially decreased traffic over a two month period.