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Deadly road accidents in Sweden drop to record low

Last year saw the lowest number of people killed in car crashes in Sweden since World War Two, according to new figures.

Published: 8 January 2020 12:45 CET
Deadly road accidents in Sweden drop to record low
Road deaths dropped by over 100 in Sweden last year. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT

A total of 223 people died on Swedish roads in 2019, according to preliminary statistics by the Swedish Transport Agency.

That is the lowest number since the agency began keeping records in the early 1950s and a sharp decrease from 2018 when there were 324 road deaths.

The drop is mainly due to fewer passenger car crashes (in total 110 deaths in such crashes, with the remaining passengers travelling in buses or trucks), and especially single-vehicle accidents. The latter remained the most common type of accident, with 44 fatalities, followed by 43 deaths in head-on collisions.

Ryo Yamazaki, a statistician at the Transport Agency, told The Local it was “difficult to say” exactly which safety measures had brought down the number of fatalities, adding it could be a “random fluctuation”.

“We have not made a full analysis yet. It could be just good fortune, but also the bad summer and mild winter in 2019 has had an effect. We also see that during economic prosperity the traffic mortalities tend to go up, when the economy starts to go worse we see a decrease in accidents,” he said.

Twenty-eight motorcyclists died in accidents last year, down from 47 the year before, according to the Transport Agency. And 26 pedestrians died after being hit by vehicles, including one minor and 10 people aged 65 or older. Fifteen cyclists died, compared to 23 in 2018 – ten of them were aged above 65.

Meanwhile, other means of transport saw a spike in casualties in 2019, with a total of 112 railway deaths (up from 97 in 2018), 20 in traffic at sea (up from 15, but down compared to previous years) and 11 deaths in aviation accidents (up from two in 2018).

In 1997, Sweden introduced a road safety policy named Vision Zero, with the long-term aim of cutting fatal accidents to zero. There has been an overall drop in road deaths over the past decades, with the exception of 2018 which stood out as a particularly deadly year.

“We've set the goal to half the number of people killed in traffic from 2007 to 2020. The target is to keep the number around 220 in 2020. I think it's achievable to reach this goal this year. But there always is random variation in the statistics,” said Yamazaki.

Swedish vocabulary 

road – (en) väg

pedestrian – (en) fotgängare

passenger car – (en) personbil

motorcycle – (en) motorcykel

bicycle – (en) cykel

Reporting by Emma Löfgren and Tim Marringa

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TRAVEL NEWS

What parents need to know about travelling through Copenhagen airport with kids

Flying with children can be stressful at the best of times, so here are The Local’s best tips for departing from Copenhagen airport with your kids in tow.

Published: 18 August 2023 12:53 CEST
Updated: 23 March 2024 08:11 CET
What parents need to know about travelling through Copenhagen airport with kids

Things to do

Obviously, your family’s needs will vary depending on the age of your children. If you have young children, it can be a good idea for them to blow off some steam before getting on the flight.

A great way to do this can be to head to one of the airport’s playgrounds. There’s one after security near the entrance to Finger B, complete with luggage carts, a control tower complete with a slide, and a couple of planes for kids to climb on.

There’s also an outdoor playground before security with a couple of slides hidden inside a wooden cloud, outside Terminal 2.

Make sure to check out the large blue fish tank before security, too. It’s just next to Lagkagehuset/Ole and Steen and WOK restaurant near the baggage drop in Terminal 2.

There are also two Lego shops inside the airport: one between gates A&B and one between gates B&C. These are both after security.

If you want to buy something to keep your slightly older child occupied during the flight, there are a number of 7-Elevens which sell magazines, sticker and activity books and stationery, as well as snacks and drinks. Look for the 7-Eleven Read and Fly signs.

There’s also a child area in the SAS lounge with toys and children’s TV – free for SAS Business or Plus travellers or Gold EuroBonus members. 

For non-members, entry costs around 210-230 Danish kroner per person, with free entry for kids under 2. This is sometimes cheaper off-season and you may be able to pay with EuroBonus reward points if you’ve got a stash saved up.

The SAS lounge also includes a buffet with unlimited drinks (including beer and wine), as well as wifi, newspapers and magazines included in your entry fee.

As an aside, it’s worth noting that transiting, arriving and departing passengers all share the same space at Copenhagen Airport (once they are on the gate side of security). So the same areas that can be used by families before departing are also available to anyone transiting through Copenhagen and you can also use them on arrival if you somehow have the energy for this.

Getting through security

Just before you get to the actual queues for security, there will be a child-size security scanner made out of Lego. If your child is scared about flying or worried about going through security, you can act out the process here to make them feel less nervous.

If you have kids under six, you’ll be sent to the family lane at security, with another security officer made out of Lego pointing the way.

If your child uses a buggy, you may need to check it in depending on size. Usually if it’s a small buggy you can fold down (a klapvogn or paraplyvogn in Danish), you can take it through security all the way to your gate. If it’s larger, you’ll probably have to check it in at the baggage drop and borrow an airport buggy after security.

Places to eat

Copenhagen Airport isn’t cheap, and if your child is a fussy eater you might want to take something with you from home. You are allowed to bring food through security with you as long as it isn’t a paste or liquid over 100ml (so avoid any soups, smoothies, or any pots of dressings, dips or sauces, to be on the safe side).

One exception to this is food or milk for babies. You can bring enough food or milk for your baby to last the duration of your flight, including water or hot water to make formula milk, and it’s exempt from the 100ml rule, although they may make you taste it at security.

Inside the airport, there are a lot of places to buy kid-friendly food both before and after security. If you sit in a food-court area, rather than inside one of the actual restaurants, you can eat food you’ve brought with you or each member of your group can grab whatever they fancy from a couple of different restaurants. There’s one between gates A and B and another near gate C. Both have lookout points where you can look at the planes taking off or landing while you eat.

Travelling with a baby

There are changing tables (puslebord or puslerum) in most of the toilet blocks in the airport, as well as dedicated taps for filling up a water bottle. These are marked drikkevand.

In the toilet block under O’Leary’s and MASH between gates A and B there’s a room for breastfeeding, as well as a couple of microwaves you can use to heat up formula milk, although you are of course allowed to breastfeed elsewhere in the airport. There’s an elevator, so you can take your buggy with you.

There’s also a pharmacy before security where you can pick up extra nappies or any medicines, although bear in mind any liquids will need to be under 100ml unless you’re planning to put them in your checked baggage.

Leaving Schengen

Bear in mind that if you’re leaving the Schengen area, you will have to go through passport control before you can go to your gate, meaning you won’t be able to return to the rest of the airport. 

In some areas (like Gate C), there’s a 7-Eleven after passport control where you can grab supplies, but others (like Gate F) only have toilets and benches, so make sure you’ve grabbed everything you need before you head through to your gate.

Once you’re in the gate, you may not be near a toilet until you get on to the plane, so bear this in mind before you head through.

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