Road deaths fail to decline for second consecutive year

Road deaths in Belgium have failed to decrease for the second year running, new figures show.

In 2015, 40,303 road accidents occurred, claiming 52,571 victims, of whom 732 died within 30 days of the accident taking place, according to the statistics arm of FPS Economy. The death toll was up from 727 in the previous year.

Motorcyclists represent 16% of victims killed, and 12% were pedestrians. The number of cyclists killed reached 11%, whereas back in 2010 it was only 8%.

Furthermore, accidents involving trucks amount to 5.3% of all road accidents, but account for 14.5% of deaths on our roads.

The number of deaths has not decreased since 2013. "These last two years therefore represent a pause in the downward trend in the number of people killed on Belgian roads previously observed," states FPS Economy.

Between 2005 and 2013, road deaths were decreasing by 6.5% on average each year.

More than 60% of accidents occurred in Flanders, but only 51% of deaths. Some 28% of accidents took place in Wallonia, yet, they constituted for up to 44% of all road fatalities.