Road accidents - 2024

During 2024, mobility fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, with increased travel for work, study, and tourism. Road accidents recorded a quite stable number of fatalities compared to 2023, but both the number of accidents and injuries rose up in respect to 2023.

In 2023, road accidents fatalities amount to 3,030 (-0.3% compared to 2023), while injuries reach 233,853 (+4.1%), across 173,364 road accidents (+4.1%). Compared to 2019, fatalities and injuries decreased (-4.5% and -3.1% respectively), while the number of accidents showed a slight increase (+0.7%) (Chart 1).

Fatalities increased among motorcyclists, e-scooter users, and truck occupants, while they decreased in other categories. Specifically, motorcyclists recorded 830 deaths (+13.1% compared to 2023), and truck occupants 146 deaths (+30.4%). Among e-scooter users, injuries rose to 3,751 and fatalities (within 30 days of the accident) to 23, along with 1 pedestrian fatality (in 2023, the numbers were 3,195 and 21 respectively). Car occupant deaths dropped to 1,252 (-6.0%), moped riders to 61 (-10.3%), pedestrians to 470 (-3.1%), and cyclists – including e-bike users – to 185 (-12.7%, down from 212 in 2023).

Between 2023 and 2024, road accidents and injuries increased across all road types, especially on motorways (+6.9% accidents, +7.0% injuries). Motorway fatalities also rose significantly (+7.1%), while fatalities decreased on urban roads (-2.1%) and slightly increased on rural roads (+0.1%). Compared to 2019, accidents rose on motorways and rural roads (+4.0% and +2.7% respectively).

In 2024, road accidents deaths across the Eu27 declined slightly (-2.2% compared to 2023), continuing the trend from the previous year. Compared to 2019, the decrease put up at -12.1%. In absolute terms, the Eu27 reported 20,017 fatalities in 2024, down from 20,466 in 2023 and 22,823 in 2019. This links to 45 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2024, lower than Italy’s rate of 51, which ranks the country 19th in the EU for road mortality.

The most frequent incorrect driving behaviours continued to be distraction, failure to yield, and excessive speed. Together, these accounted for 37.8% of all causes (85,339 cases), a figure that has remained stable over time.

Excessive speed is the most punished driving infraction after illegal parking, representing 34% of all traffic violations. Fines for failure to the use seatbelts and child restraint systems declined slightly, while fines for not wearing helmets increased. Authorities continued to issue a high number of fines for improper use of in-vehicle devices, and fines for drug-impaired driving increased, while those for drunk driving slightly declined.

The car market showed slight growth in 2024: new car registrations rose by 0.7% compared to 2023. On the motorway network, average annual vehicle mileage increased by 2.2%, and total mileage in 2024 exceeded 83 billion vehicle per kilometre.

In 2024, the number of road fatalities remained stable compared to 2023 and still exceeded 3,000

In 2024, Italy recorded 173,364 road accidents involving injuries. These incidents resulted in 3,030 fatalities and 233,853 injuries (Table 1). Compared to the previous year, road deaths declined by 0.3%, while the number of accidents and injuries increased by 4.1%. The road mortality rate slightly decreased from 51.5 to 51.4 deaths per million inhabitants.

Compared to 2019, the benchmark year for the 2021–2030 Road Safety Decade, fatalities per million inhabitants dropped by 4.5% (from 53.1 to 51.4).

The social cost of road accidents involving injuries, calculated using updated parameters from Istat and ACI, (based on data from the State Police, Municipal Police, and Carabinieri), amounted to just over 18 billion of Euros in 2024, representing nearly 1% of national GDP. Including estimated costs from accidents involving property damage only (about 4.4 billion of Euros according to ANIA), the total rises to approximately 22.6 billion of Euros.

Mobility levels remained stable in 2024 after the post-pandemic growth

In 2024, mobility levels stabilized, maintaining the recovery seen in 2023 after the sharp decline during the most acute phases of the pandemic. According to data from Isfort’s “Audimob” Observatory (updated to the first half of 2024), the average number of daily trips made by the population aged 14-85 stood at 96.5 million on a typical weekday, the exact same level recorded in the first half of 2023. For the full year 2023, daily trips averaged 99.5 million, marking a modest increase of 0.6% compared to 2022. This confirms that the post-Covid recovery in travel demand, already evident in 2022 and early 2023, has now stabilized. Compared to 2019 (the last pre-pandemic year), overall daily mobility demand has dropped by approximately 6%. This decline reflects the continued impact of remote working, shifts in post-pandemic lifestyles, and ongoing demographic changes.

In 2023, the total number of passenger per kilometre travelled on an average weekday remained above one billion, despite a slight decline from 2022 (-2.6%). Comparing the first half of 2023 with the same period in 2024 reveals a further decrease (-5.7%). In short, people are still moving but tend to cover shorter distances than in the past. In fact, kilometres travelled in 2023 remained significantly below 2019 levels (-11.7%), suggesting a possible end to the growth in medium- and long-distance travel seen during the 2021–2022 recovery.

In the first half of 2024, 80.1% of the population made at least one trip per day, down slightly from 80.8% in the same period of the previous year. In 2023, the gap from 2019 stood at 3.5 percentage points, despite a partial recovery from 2022 levels.

Another relevant trend concerns “proximity mobility,” or people who only moved on foot and for very short distances. In the first half of 2024, this group accounted for 6.7% of the population, down slightly from 6.9% in the first half of 2023, but still above the 6.0% recorded in the first half of 2019. At the same time, the share of people who did not move at all during the day rose from 12% in early 2023 to 13.2% in the first half of 2024.

Bicycle and micro mobility usage held steady at around 4% of the modal share, with a 0.3 percentage point increase between the first halves of 2023 and 2024. Motorcycles also maintained a similar modal share of around 4%, although a noticeable decline occurred in early 2024, falling to 3.5% from 3.9% in the same period of 2023.

Cars remained the most used mode of transport, accounting for 64.7% of trips in 2023. However, this reflects a 1.6% decrease from 2022, followed by a further 2.5% decline in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period the previous year.

Public transport continued its gradual recovery after the sharp decline in 2020, which halved its market share. In 2023, the modal share rose to 8.6% (up from 7.4% in 2022) and reached 8.0% in the first half of 2024, a slight increase from 7.8% in the same period of 2023. Nonetheless, a gap of more than two percentage points remains compared to 2019 levels.

Data from the National Sharing Mobility Observatory indicate a phase of contraction in the overall service offering, both in terms of the number of operators and the availability of vehicles. This trend is partly due to adjustments in the shared e-scooter sector. Despite the shrinking supply, overall demand has remained stable, with rental volumes and travel distances essentially unchanged.

The number of shared e-scooter services dropped significantly from nearly 100 in 2022 to 79 in 2023, and then to 53 at the start of 2024. This reduction resulted from some operators exiting the market and the discontinuation of services in several cities, often due to the conclusion of pilot programs. Nevertheless, the number of rentals in 2023 continued to be stable compared to 2022 and projections for 2024 also show stability. Considering the decline in service supply over the past 18 months, this stability reflects a strong and consistent use of the remaining services. In Italy’s two largest cities, Rome and Milan, the number of shared scooter services fell from 7 in 2021 to 3 and 2 respectively by early 2024.

Regarding Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), data show an expansion in service offerings, which reached 41 active systems in spring 2024, mostly operating in Northern regions. Each DRT system is designed based on the specific characteristics of its local context, adapting to the needs of the territory (Isfort).

Nevertheless, private car use continues to dominate nationwide. Italy remains one of the most motorized countries in Europe, with 700.8 cars per 1,000 inhabitants. In the first half of 2024, car use accounted for 63.1% of total trips down slightly from 66.3% in 2022, and close to the 62.5% recorded in 2019. The lowest value ever observed was 59% in 2020. These figures confirm the continued dominance of the car as Italians’ preferred mode of transport.

Traffic volumes on the motorway network (for all vehicles) exceeded 83 billion vehicle pre kilometre in 2024, marking a 2.2% increase compared to 2023. Heavy vehicle traffic rose by 2.3%, while light vehicle traffic increased by 2.1%.

The IMR (Observed Mobility Index), calculated by Anas based on monthly average daily traffic by vehicle class, also rose slightly between 2023 and 2024. The overall index grew by 0.7 percentage points, with a stronger increase for heavy vehicles (+1.4%).

As for the bicycle market, traditional bike sales declined slightly in 2024 (-0.9%) compared to 2023, totalling 1,080,000 units. In contrast, the e-bike market saw a modest increase of +0.3%, with 274,000 units sold, up 40% compared to 2019. This means that for every five bicycles sold, four were traditional and one electric, with e-bikes now accounting for 20% of total bicycle sales, twice the 11% share recorded in 2019.

The Italian new car market ended 2024 with a slight increase of 0.7% compared to 2023. This modest growth was driven by strong performance in the first half of the year, which offset declines recorded between August and December. At the European level, the car market also grew slightly in 2024, with 12,963,614 new registrations, up 0.9% from 12,847,929 in 2023. However, the figure remains well below pre-pandemic levels, as 2019 saw 15,340,188 new car registrations. Among the five major European markets (including the UK), only Spain (+7.1%) and the United Kingdom (+2.6%) recorded growth in 2024. France (-3.2%) and Germany (-1.0%) saw declines. In terms of total volume, Italy ranked fourth among the largest car markets in Europe for the full year.

Consultation of georeferenced data on road accident and mortality rates: Road accidents in Italy – regional data – year 2024.