From drunk driving to skipping the seatbelt: Which EU country has the most reckless drivers?
ADVERTISEMENT
Latvia has been ranked as having the EU's highest quotient of reckless drivers, tallying with high road fatality rates of 75 deaths per million people each year and alarming levels of phone usage while driving.
That's according to a new study by motorway toll seller
Vignetteswitzerland.com
that analysed six key metrics, including road fatality rates, drunk driving, speeding on freeways, driving while sleepy, phone use while driving, and not wearing a seatbelt.
Austria ranks second in the EU, with 22.1% of drivers admitting to driving after consuming alcohol. Greece rounds out the top three, with nearly 28% of its drivers failing to wear seatbelts — the highest rate in the EU.
The data were gathered from the European Commission's official road fatality statistics and the Vias Institute's E-Survey of Road Users' Attitudes (ESRA).
Finnish drivers have also shown some concerning behaviours, with over 40% talking on hand-held phones while driving — the highest rate among the countries surveyed. In Luxembourg, nearly four in 10 drivers admit to driving after consuming alcohol.
"What's particularly alarming is that in countries like Luxembourg and Finland — nations known for their high standards of living and infrastructure — we're seeing extremely high rates of specific dangerous behaviours," said Mattijs Wijnmalen, CEO of Vignette Switzerland.
By contrast, Sweden has the lowest road fatality rate in Europe, with just 22 deaths per million inhabitants — significantly below the European average.
Related
London, Paris, Dublin: Which European city has the most congested roads?
What is the European Commission's insight?
Despite these results, the European Commission reported a 3% year-on-year drop in EU road fatalities in 2024, reflecting 600 fewer lives lost across the bloc.
However, the Commission believes this decline remains insufficient.
"The overall pace of improvement remains too slow, and most Member States are not on track to meet the EU's goal of halving road deaths by 2030," said a press release published on 18 March.
According to the Commission, rural roads continue to present the greatest risk, accounting for 52% of fatalities.
Men represent the majority of road deaths (77%), while older adults (65+) and young people (18-24) are particularly vulnerable road users.
Among different types of road users, car occupants account for the largest share of fatalities, followed by motorcyclists (20%), pedestrians (18%), and cyclists (10%).
Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, make up nearly 70% of urban fatalities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
Belarus opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski freed from jail
A top Belarus opposition leader, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, has been released from jail after being pardoned, Belarusian human rights group Viasna said on Saturday, June 21. His wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who took over the opposition cause after his jailing, shared a video of him smiling and embracing her after his release with the caption: "FREE." Tsikhanouski, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years. Tsikhanouskaya said that officials from the United States had helped secure her husband's release. "It's hard to describe the joy in my heart," she said in a post on X, thanking US President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg and European allies. Tsikhanouski had planned to run against incumbent Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election, but was arrested and detained weeks before the vote. His wife, Sviatlana, a political novice at the time of his arrest, took his place in the polls. He was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for "organizing riots" and "inciting hatred" and then to 18 months extra for "insubordination." Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition movements and is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment. There are more than 1,000 political prisoners in the country, according to Viasna. According to the Associated Press (AP), the release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that Lukashenko met with Trump's envoy Kellogg in Minsk.
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Belarus opposition leader Tikhanovsky freed from jail following visit from top Trump envoy
A top Belarus opposition leader, Sergei Tikhanovsky, has been released from jail after being pardoned, Belarusian human rights group Viasna said on Saturday. His wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who took over the opposition cause after his jailing, shared a video of him smiling and embracing her after his release with the caption: "FREE". Tikhanovskaya's team said that the popular blogger and activist had arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners. Tikhanovsky's release came just hours after the Belarusian authorities announced that the country's authoritarian President, Alexander Lukashenko, met with Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg in Minsk. Tikhanovskaya said Saturday that officials from the United States had helped secure her husband's release. "It's hard to describe the joy in my heart," she said in a post on X, thanking US President Donald Trump, US envoy Keith Kellogg and European allies. Belarus marks one year since disputed presidential election 02:04 Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years. He planned to run against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election, but was arrested and detained weeks before the vote. His wife Svetlana – a political novice at the time of his arrest – took his place in the polls. He was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in prison for "organising riots" and "inciting hatred" and then to 18 months extra for "insubordination". Belarus, ruled by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all opposition movements and is the only European country to retain the death penalty as a punishment. There are more than 1,000 political prisoners in the country, according to Viasna.
Euronews
3 days ago
- Euronews
Over 600 migrants rescued from two fishing boats off southern Greece
More than 600 migrants were rescued overnight and into Friday morning from two overcrowded wooden fishing vessels found adrift off the southernmost part of Greece, the Greek coast guard has said. The first vessel, carrying 352 people, was located around 55 kilometres (35 miles) south of Gavdos, a small Greek island. The passengers were rescued by a vessel from the EU's border agency Frontex, supported by a coast guard patrol boat and four additional ships. A further 278 people were discovered on a second boat approximately 90 kilometres (60 miles) south of Crete. Those aboard were transferred onto a passing Portuguese-flagged cargo ship. In both instances, the migrants were taken to Crete for processing. The authorities have not yet disclosed the nationalities of the rescued individuals. Two additional migrant boats were located in the same parts of the Mediterranean on Thursday. One was discovered carrying 73 men south of Gavdos, while the other, found near Crete's southern coast, had 26 people on board, including a woman and three children. Passengers from the smaller of these two vessels said they had departed from Tobruk, Libya, the night before, each reportedly paying smugglers €4,000 for the perilous journey, according to the Greek coast guard. Two Sudanese teenagers, aged 16 and 19, were arrested on suspicion of migrant trafficking after passengers identified them as the boat's operators. Greece continues to be a key entry point to the EU for people escaping conflict and hardship in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Arrivals surged last year, with over 60,000 migrants landing in Greece — the majority by sea — compared to around 48,000 in 2023, according to UN refugee agency data. By mid-June 2025, Greece had recorded 16,290 arrivals, over 14,600 of which were by sea. With Greek authorities stepping up patrols along the eastern maritime border with Turkey, traffickers appear to be increasingly choosing the longer and more dangerous route across the Mediterranean from North Africa, using larger boats capable of carrying more people. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday announced the use of a super-heavy Sejil missile as part of what it said was the 12th wave of strikes on Israel. Despite its frequent appearance in the Tehran regime's military parades since it was reportedly brought into service in 2012, the Sejil missile's launch against Israel marks the first time one of its prized assets was used in direct confrontation. Its real-world application also reveals a shift in gears in Tehran's deterrence calculations and response. The Sejil, or "Brimstone", is classified as a surface-to-surface ballistic missile and was developed entirely inside Iran by the Ministry of Defence-run Aerospace Industries Organisation. Although some reports claimed that Tehran used similar Chinese-made missiles as a technical basis for the Sejil, its size and other features suggest it is entirely designed and produced in Iran. The missile, developed to replace the Shabab class of rockets in service since the late 1980s, has a range of about 2,000 kilometres and uses solid fuel as propellant, making it quicker to launch compared to liquid-fueled equivalents. The Sejil is manoeuvrable in all stages of flight, making it difficult to intercept by conventional air defence systems. Although details on its speed are unclear, Tehran reportedly stated that it is capable of reaching Tel Aviv in approximately seven minutes if launched from central Iran. In terms of technical specifications, reports say it measures 25 metres in length, 1.25 metres in diameter, and weighs approximately 2.3 metric tonnes. It can carry warheads weighing up to 700 kilograms and is believed to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The Sejil first appeared in a field test in 2008, before its improved version, the Sejil-2, was developed in 2009. In this version, the warhead design was modified, and guidance wings were added to enhance accuracy. However, some reports claim that Sejil-2 might not be a separate model, but rather a test name for the same rocket. Yet footage from 2021 military exercises featuring the Sejil shows updates to earlier missiles of the same model have been made, notably to its jet vanes. Furthermore, rumours of another updated model, the Sejil-3, say that a more modern version was developed with a maximum range of 4,000 kilometres, meaning that in theory it could almost reach Brussels from Tehran. Israeli authorities said on Thursday that the Sejil was successfully intercepted, with debris causing damage to a vehicle.
