1,779 people died and more than 6,000 were injured last year in serious road accidents on public roads in Romania. The most common reasons were failure to drive according to road conditions, irregular pedestrian crossing and failure to yield to pedestrians, according to the latest Romanian police report.

Police data shows something alarming: although the number of serious road accidents decreased last year, the number of fatalities compared to the situation in 2020 increased.

• SEE THE POLICE REPORT HERE

Fewer serious accidents, but more deaths

So, last year, 4,915 serious traffic accidents occurred on public roads in Romania, traffic accidents that caused the death of 1,779 people, 3,790 people were seriously injured, and another 2,235 people were lightly injured.

The police note that compared to 2020, last year there were 1,356 fewer road accidents (-21.6%), and the number of fatalities in such events was higher (+133, +8.1%), and the number of seriously injured people continues to decrease. by 1692 fewer cases (-30.9%).

The death rate increased from 26.2% in 2020 to 36.2% in 2021 and Romania retains first place in the EU to the number of deaths from traffic accidents, with 93 deaths per million inhabitants.

Top 10 causes of serious road accidents

In 2021, the two most frequent causes of serious traffic accidents remained failure to comply with the speed of traffic according to road conditions (768 traffic accidents and 281 fatalities) and irregular crossing by pedestrians (645 traffic accidents and 241 fatalities). giving way to pedestrians, rejecting cyclists and not giving way to vehicles.

• 1. Due to the inconsistency of the speed of traffic with road conditions, 768 road accidents occurred with the death of 281 people and 651 serious injuries, which is 220 fewer events than in 2020 (-22.3%).
• 2. Irregular crossing of pedestrians caused 645 road accidents in 2021, as a result of which 241 people died and 406 people were seriously injured, decreasing compared to 2020 (-113 events, -14.9%).
• 3. Failure to give way to pedestrians caused 137 fewer road accidents in 2021 (-22.6%) compared to the previous year, thus remaining in third place in the ranking of the main causes of road accidents.
• 4. Violation of the rules by cyclists caused 304 fewer serious road accidents in 2021 (-41%)
• 5. Failure to give priority to vehicles caused 108 fewer serious road accidents than in 2020 (-20.9%).
• 6. Pedestrians on the roadside: 248 road accidents and 48 fatalities
• 7. Other distractions: 232 accidents and 122 deaths
• 8. Irregular overtaking: 206 accidents and 96 deaths
• 9. Failure to maintain the distance between vehicles: 203 road accidents and 72 fatalities
• 10. Drunk driving: 182 road accidents and 54 fatalities

How many fines did the Police give: Major violations

The police note that last year, 1,752,758 fines were applied at the national level for traffic violations, including the main sanctions:

• exceeding the speed limit: 651,296 fines
• unfastened seat belt or failure to use restraints: 216,127 fines
• non-observance of traffic rules by pedestrians: 73,006 fines
• using a mobile phone without a hands-free device: 35,387 fines
• driving a vehicle by a person under the influence of alcohol: 18,508 fines
• failure to give way to pedestrians: 17,925 fines
• non-observance of overtaking rules: 27,218 fines
• failure to observe a red traffic light: 12,259 fines
• failure to give priority to vehicles: 12,454 fines

In 2021, 203,373 driver’s licenses were suspended at the national level for violation of traffic rules with the aim of depriving them of the right to drive.

Also last year, 74,315 registration certificates were withdrawn at the national level, most of them due to technical malfunctions (47.1%) and due to inconsistency of the data in the document with the technical characteristics of the vehicle (5.1%).