The first semester 2022 is characterized by a clear recovery in mobility and, as a consequence, of road accidents, after the years in which the pandemic showed its most acute phase.
According to the preliminary estimates January-June 2022, in respect of the same period of 2021, is recorded an increase of the road accidents resulting in death or injury number (81,437; + 24.7%), of the injured (108,996, + 25.7%) and of the victims within 30 days (1,450; +15.3%).
Road accidents recorded, as expected, relevant increases for all aggregates also compared to 2020, (accidents: +64.3%, injuries: +63.0%, victims +43.2%). Compared to 2019, however, there is still a slight decrease for road accidents -2.6%; injured -6.8% and died -5.5% (Chart 1 and Table 1).
Concerning the first six months of 2021, victims increase, especially on rural roads (+20%), following the urban roads (+11%) and the highways (+10%). Compared to first six months in 2019, during the first semester of 2022, the victims sharply decrease in fatalities on motorways (-11.8%), while on urban and rural roads the decrease is estimated in about 5%.
For the decade 2021-2030, the European road safety targets expect the halving of the number of fatalities and serious injuries by 2030, compared to the benchmark year (set in 2019). Following the increase recorded for fatalities in the first six months of 2022, however, the path towards achieving road safety goals is already beginning with some difficulties.
The car market shows some sufferings during the first six months of the 2022: the first registrations of cars number decrease of 24.2% and of motorcycles of 4.1%. The same trend is registered for the second-hand market: -10.8% for passenger cars and -7% for motorcycles, in respect of the same period of the previous year. Inside the cities, the use of sharing services is still growing, including e-scooters, which have the highest share of rentals.
Ever during the first semester of the current year, the motorway journeys increased by an average of 25.6%. The mobility recovery regards overall the light vehicles, in particular cars, with an increase in the indicator of vehicles per km on the roads, equal to 34%. For heavy vehicles the change was 7%. A similar situation for traffic was recorded on the main rural roads network: in the first four months of the year the increases reached peaks of 30%, while in May and June the changes, compared to the previous year, always positive, amounted to around 4%.