In 2008, 12 people were killed in traffic accidents in Iceland, considerably fewer people than during the average year. For the past 20 years, 434 individuals have lost their lives in traffic, or 22 per year on average.
According to information from the Road Traffic Directorate, since traffic accidents were first registered in 1967, there have only been two occasions where fewer people than 12 died in traffic in one year, in 1968 and 1996. In 1994, 12 people also lost their lives in traffic accidents, mbl.is reports.
“It is undeniably a development in the right direction, but success in traffic safety matters shouldn’t only be measured by the number of deaths in traffic,” said a statement from the directorate.
“The development and success of traffic safety has to be estimated through the combined number of deaths and serious injuries and the directorate doesn’t have these statistics yet.”
