Brno - The Czech Republic exceeds all other EU member states in the number of casualties in motorcycle accidents. A Czech motorbiker thus has a much higher chance of dying on the road than any other motorbiker in the EU. Only Latvia is the exception.
These are the findings of a statistical report for 2001-2007 presented by Transport Research Centre in Brno. The Czech Republic has the highest annual increase of motorcyclist deaths in traffic accidents based on one billion kilometers travelled.
"A few countries - the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary and Great Britain - exhibit an increase of this risk. The Czech Republic is the worst of all of these countries," informed experts from the center.
While in Europe as a whole the number of casualties in motorbiking accidents is generally stagnating, it is growing in the Czech Republic.
"The Czech Republic is the second worst country in terms of the average year-to-year increase of a number of bikers killed," the report states. The increase in the Czech Republic was 4 percent during the above period. Only Latvia has a higher number - nearly 10 percent.
Scandinavia: Bikers' safe haven
Czechs share this dark record of the highest number of casualties with Latvia, Hungary and Slovenia. In all these countries, the number of deaths reaches more than 200 for a billion kilometers travelled.
On the contrary, the safest places for bikers are Norway, Denmark, Finland and Switzerland. Their statistics show only 30-45 casualties for the same number of kilometers.
In all the EU, the year 2006 saw 6,200 bikers killed on the roads.
For bikers, the risk of dying in an accident is 18 times higher than for car drivers.
Carelessness to be blamed
Police statistics show that Czech bikers are not too preoccupied with following traffic rules. Young drivers under 35 and bikers are at greatest risk on Czech roads.
"Motorcycles are popular, they are more affordable now and people keep buying them. So there are also more accidents because more bikes were sold. I wouldn't say that bikers are worse drivers nowadays than 10 years ago," explained president of the Czech bikers' organization Ondřej Dekoj.
For every 1,000 bikers, 39 are killed in accidents. According to police statistics, in most cases it is the biker's fault and it is speeding that kills Czech bikers most often.
