According to the International Trade Administration, in 2023, nearly a third of Americans traveling abroad will choose to visit Europe. About 3 million people decided to go to the UK, 1.5 million to France and 1.6 million to Germany. But the rest are scattered across the continent. Millions of people have also rented a car to explore their new landscape.
If you’re going to be one of the record number of Americans to visit Europe in 2024, that’s great. However, if you plan to rent a car, it’s a good idea to find out which countries have the most dangerous driving conditions and which are the safest.
Vignetteswitzerland.com analyzed data from the European Transport Safety Committee to determine which countries have the highest road deaths per million inhabitants. After analyzing the data, the team found that Romania is the most dangerous country in Europe to drive in, with statistics for 2022 showing 85.81 deaths per million inhabitants. But, as the website notes, there’s some good news here because “that’s a 10.26 percent decrease from 2012 when there were 95.62 deaths per million residents.”
Serbia is the second most dangerous destination, with 82.65 road deaths per million inhabitants. However, this is another significant drop compared to 2012 figures, which showed the country had 95.01 road deaths per million inhabitants.
Of the five most dangerous countries in Europe to drive in, Bulgaria ranked third, with 77.64 road deaths per million inhabitants; Croatia ranked fourth, with 71.20 road deaths per million inhabitants; Portugal ranked fifth, with 62.30 road deaths per million inhabitants. But again, the silver lining for Portugal is that the figure is down 8.53 percent from 2012, which had 68.11 road deaths per million inhabitants.
As for the safest countries, Norway ranked first with only 21.38 road deaths per million residents, followed by Sweden with 21.72 road deaths per million residents. The United Kingdom ranked third, with 25.89 road deaths per million residents.
It’s important to remember that none of this data is meant to scare you. Instead, it’s a reminder to follow local laws that keep you and the person in your passenger seat safe on the road.
“Given how connected Europe is and how easy it is to travel from one country to another, it’s important to know the driving conditions in each country you travel to,” M. E. Wjnmalen, CEO of Vignetteswitzerland.com, said in a statement provided to Travel + Leisure. “Many factors can affect these conditions, such as changes in road quality, driving regulations, and even speed limits, which can affect your risk of just being on the road.”
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