Brussels: Europe is overlooking one of its largest and least acknowledged road safety and occupational health failures: work-related road use, says the new report by the European Transport Safety Council. The report reveals that thousands are killed every year in collisions linked to work activities or commuting, yet governments and EU institutions still lack even a basic common definition of what constitutes a work-related road collision.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the report highlights that at least 2,922 people died in work-related incidents annually in the EU between 2020 and 2022, with 43 percent of these deaths occurring in the transport sector, including road transport. The data, gathered from 16 European countries, indicates that work-related road deaths account for between 30 and 40 percent of all road deaths. However, the official numbers are distorted by inconsistent reporting, missing data, and incompatible national definitions.
In France, work-related road deaths represent 42 percent of all road deaths; in Ireland, 29 percent; Italy, 16 percent; Germany, 10 percent; with one country reporting just 2 percent. Despite these figures, ten countries still have no national definition of a work-related road collision, and fewer than half record the purpose of a journey in police crash reports. The lack of integration among police data, employer reporting, and occupational safety systems results in a fragmented and underestimated picture that obscures the true scale of the problem.
Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of ETSC, stated, “Work-related road deaths represent a systemic failure that Europe continues to ignore.” He emphasized that professional drivers, riders, commuters, and the public are dying because employers, national governments, and the EU treat road risk at work as someone else’s problem, calling for political leadership to address these issues.
The report underscores that work-related road deaths span professional drivers, workers on or near the road, professional travelers, commuters, and third parties, meaning anyone can be a victim of their own or someone else’s work-related risk. Professional drivers face pressure from long hours, fatigue, and time constraints. Moreover, commuting remains one of the most dangerous parts of the working day in Europe, but employers’ responsibilities vary dramatically across countries, and legal obligations often do not explicitly cover driving for work.
ETSC’s investigation found that among the European countries covered by the report, 20 have a definition for a work-related road collision, 10 do not, and only 13 countries include journey purpose in police reports. ETSC calls on the EU to adopt a common EU definition of work-related road collisions covering professional drivers, workers on the road, commuters, and third parties. It also urges the extension of the EU’s Common Accident Data Set to cover journey purposes for all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, and the implementation of work-related road safety management programs. Additionally, ETSC recommends procuring only Euro NCAP 5-star vehicles across all fleets.
At the national level, ETSC calls on member states to introduce a national definition and collect annual data on work-related road deaths and serious injuries.