HC Deb 23 November 1960 vol 630 c106W
56. Mr. John Hall

asked the Minister of Transport if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the number of motor vehicles per road mile and the number of road accidents involving death or injury in each country for which such statistics are available to him.

Mr. Marples

The following table shows the numbers of motor vehicles per mile of road and numbers of fatal casualties, but comparable statistics of road accidents involving injury only cannot be given because of major differences in the definition and coverage of these statistics in different countries.

Country Motor vehicles per mile of road Fatal casualties
Great Britain 39.0 5,970
Belgium* 23.6 984
Denmark 15.5 620
France* 15.9 8,126
Federal Republic of Germany 47.4 11,703
Italy* 42.9 7,137
Luxembourg 32.8 82
Netherlands 66.3 1,604
Norway 12.0 269
Portugal 11.7 561
Sweden 13.8 942
Switzerland 22.9 1,112
Yugoslavia 2.2 783
U.S.A 19.6 37,800
* Because of a difference in definition the number of casualties in these countries compared with the other countries are understated, to a slight extent for France but probably appreciably so for Belgium and Italy.

SOURCE: The figures for European countries are based on information given in the United Nations publication "Statistics of Road Accidents in Europe, 1958"; those for the U.S.A. are from the publication "Accident Facts".

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