455 people died on the roads last year, the second lowest number since 1961 – Garáž.cz

“Every five and a half minutes there was a traffic accident in the Czech Republic in 2023, every 20 and a half minutes a person was injured in an accident, and every 19 and a quarter hours a person was killed in connection with a traffic accident,” Zlý said.

The most tragic month was June in 2023, when 51 people died on the roads. The fewest accident victims were in February, November and December, when 27 people died in accidents each time. Most often, in more than a fifth of cases, according to the police, accidents happened because the driver was not fully focused on driving. The most tragic causes were driving in the opposite direction or not adjusting the speed to the road condition. Last year, the police recorded the most accidents on Fridays, and the least on Sundays. According to Zlý, the most tragic day was again Fridays.

Last year, 74 pedestrians died in traffic accidents, the most in January and February, the least in June and July. According to Zlý, the higher number of those killed in the winter months was related to reduced visibility. However, the director pointed out that in 24 cases out of the total number, these were not typical pedestrians, but people who, for example, got off cars on the road, lying on the road and being run over or running across the highway.

Last year, 39 cyclists died on the roads, 70 motorcycle drivers. “If we compare the numbers with the previous year, there was a dramatic increase in the number of motorcycle drivers killed, by 12 people,” said Zlý.

In 2023, the largest number of accidents with consequences for health or life occurred in the Central Bohemian Region, where there were 80. The fewest such accidents, specifically 15, occurred in the Karlovy Vary Region.

The vast majority of all accidents, almost 80,000, were caused by motor vehicle drivers. Forest animals or domestic animals caused over 11,000 accidents, drivers of non-motorized vehicles caused approximately 3,600 accidents. In 2023, according to the police, pedestrians were responsible for roughly a thousand traffic accidents.

At the beginning of the year, the police reported that 462 people died in accidents last year. According to Zlý, the difference is caused by administrative errors, when later deceased persons were registered as victims of accidents, in some of the cases originally counted, they were also suicides.