Cyprus has recorded a 43% reduction in serious injuries during the decade from 2013 to 2023, based on the report of the European Road Safety Performance Index (Road Safety PIN), which presents data from the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), as well as Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Serbia, and the United Kingdom.
In the report, which is published on Monday, progress in reducing serious road injuries in the EU is not at the desired level, according to the goal set by the EU to reduce them by 50% from 2020 to 2030.
The report notes that approximately 1,291,000 road injuries are recorded in the EU each year, of which 141,000 are serious. A large percentage of serious injuries result in permanent disabilities and other severe lifelong issues. In Cyprus, there were 226 serious road injuries recorded in 2024, based on the national definition of serious injuries.
It is noted that due to significant differences in the definition of serious injury among EU member states and other countries participating in the PIN program, the EU established the hospital definition MAIS3+ to ensure comparability between states. In Cyprus, there is no issue with the recording of road injuries, especially serious ones. Cyprus began systematically recording serious road injuries with the MAIS3+ categorisation from 2017.
Acknowledging the scale of the social and economic problems caused by serious road injuries, the EU set a target to reduce them by 50% from 2020 to 2030, which is also the target for road deaths. Cyprus has set the same targets in its National Strategic Plan for Road Safety 2021-2030.
However, progress in reducing serious road injuries in the EU is not as expected. In the decade from 2013 to 2023, there was only a 13% reduction in serious injuries, while the corresponding reduction in deaths was 16%. The 13% reduction is far from the 50% target for the decade 2020-2030, the report stated. In contrast, Cyprus recorded an impressive 43% reduction in serious injuries during the decade from 2013 to 2023. It also recorded the second largest average annual reduction in the EU, after Romania, and the largest reduction in minor injuries during the same decade.
The distribution of serious injuries among various categories of road users varies from country to country.
On average, across the EU, 35% of serious injuries involve car occupants (24% drivers and 11% passengers), while the proportion concerning cyclists is disproportionately high at 25%, with the corresponding percentage for cyclist deaths being 10%. Cyprus reports the same percentages as the EU average regarding car occupants but only 4% for cyclists.
