Brussels – Italians behind the wheel are a constant danger. If one were to rephrase a classic Italian saying about the difficulties of driving, it would sum up the picture painted by Eurostat regarding road accidents. Well, the most undisciplined drivers are Italians: north-west, north-east, central and southern Italy feature in the top ten of European macro-regions for the highest number of accidents. In practice, the whole country, with the exception of the islands, stands out for accidents of all kinds, ranging from minor to more serious, fatal and non-fatal.
Looking at the updated figures to 2024, there were 48,815 accidents recorded in the north-west (Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, and Valle d’Aosta), 43,851 in the regions of central Italy (Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, and Umbria), 35,876 in the north-east (Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Veneto), and 29,848 in the south (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, and Puglia). The total, therefore, stands at 158,390 road accidents in one year.
Although the overall number of road casualties is falling, and consequently the number of fatal accidents (19.934 deaths in the EU in 2024, compared with 20,384 in 2023, while in Italy the figure falls from 52 to 51 per million inhabitants), Italians are contributing to making their roads among the most dangerous in Europe through unsafe driving practices. The European Statistical Office reports a high level of carelessness at the wheel. This is particularly true in the south, where, between 2023 and 2024, the total number of accidents rose sharply (+2,505 cases), as in the north-west (+1,777). More broadly, the number of accidents and CID reports is rising across Italy: in 2024, the country recorded 6,839 more road accidents than in 2023.
Looking even more closely at the data for Italy, the situation is even more worrying: since 2020, the number of road accidents in Italy has risen steadily, from 118,298 to 173,364 in 2024, an increase of 55,066 cases – more than 10,000 a year. At the same time, the number of fatalities has also risen: from 40 to 51 per million inhabitants, which translates into an increase, in absolute terms, of over 700 fatalities: from 2,395 in 2020 to 3,030 in 2024. More people are dying on the roads in Italy.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
