The numbers show worrying trend: Three out of four killed in traffic has one thing in common
Especially one group of Danes lose their lives in traffic.
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More kilometers were run than the year before. Nevertheless, 2024 became one of the safest years ever on the Danish roads. It shows the Road Directorate’s new annual report on traffic accidents that has just been released. Despite an increase in traffic of 0.4 percent compared to 2023, « only » 145 people lost their lives – the second lowest number of traffic fatalities in recent times.
Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen calls it a positive development and points to the importance of campaigns and road improvements. He emphasizes that it is important to continue to prioritize road safety if the curve is to be kept down.
But under the encouraging numbers, there is a marked difference between who it is that ends up in the accident statistics. For once again, the figures show that men are significantly more vulnerable in traffic than women – and that cannot only be explained by the fact that they are driving more.
« It’s no surprise that men are over -represented in the accidents. What might be more surprising is that it is not just because men spend more time in traffic. We know that the difference is due, among other things, to a higher risk willingness of male road users, » says the department head of the Road Directorate, Marianne Foldberg Steffensen. press release.
Three out of four traffic killed in 2024 were men, and they also made up the majority of the injured. And the picture goes again – whether you look at passenger cars, bikes or pedestrians. In the past five years, men have accounted for 55 percent of the killers and injured in a passenger car, even though they account for only 52 percent of total driving time.
The same pattern applies on the bike paths. Here, men accounted for 57 percent of those killed and injured from 2020 to 2024, while their share of the kilometers driven in the same period was 53 percent. Still, the story of the particularly vulnerable female cyclists lives at its best.
The report calls for the difference between the sexes in the accident statistics to be actively considered in future road safety initiatives. For although 2024 ended up with historically low numbers, there are still groups that are still putting life and limbs at risk when they sit behind the wheel, up on the saddle – or just move into traffic.
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