Slovenia has been making headway in road safety, with the number of casualties in 2023 the second lowest on record after 2020 when traffic slumped due to Covid-19 lockdown measures.

Police data show that 83 people died in road traffic accidents in 2023, two fewer than the year before and three more than in 2020, when the country observed the lowest annual road death toll since the Traffic Safety Agency started keeping official statistics in 1954.

The figures in the last two years are a significant improvement on the 130 deaths recorded in 2016, the highest annual death toll during the period covered by a report on the implementation of the National Road Safety Programme for 2013-2022.

Looking at the past decade, Slovenia is one of the EU countries showing the most progress in road safety, shows the Traffic Safety Agency's report.

At EU level, the number of traffic-related deaths dropped by an average 16.4% in 2013-2022. The most significant headway in efforts to reduce the death toll per million was made by Luxembourg (-51.8%), followed by Lithuania (-50.6%), Poland (-42%), Norway (-37.8%), Estonia (-37.7%) and Slovenia, which reduced the death toll by 34.4%.

The worst-performing EU countries were the Netherlands and Malta, where the number went up by 25%.

The EU's target is to halve the number of road fatalities by 2030.