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Brussels (AFP) Sep 19, 2006 There is almost a car for every two people in the European Union's 25 member states, yet road fatalities are down, according to statistics published Tuesday. There were 95 road deaths per million people throughout the EU, the rate having decreased steadily from 162 in 1991, the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, said in a statement. The highest fatality rates per million people were recorded in 2004 in Latvia (222), Lithuania (218), Cyprus (160) and Poland (150). The safest roads were in Malta (33 deaths per million inhabitants), the Netherlands (49), Sweden (53) and Britain (56), with the total number of EU road deaths in 2004 standing at 43,000. In the United States the fatality ratio was 146 deaths per million people. This general decrease in fatal accidents comes despite a huge increase in passenger cars on the road. Between 1990 and 2004 the total number of cars in the 25 current EU nations increased by 38 percent and stood at 216 million passenger cars in 2004, said Eurostat. That figure amounts to 472 cars for every 1,000 EU inhabitants. The largest rise in car numbers were recorded in less rich but fast-developing EU nations such as Lithuania where the increase was a massive 167 percent, Latvia (142 percent), Portugal (135 percent) and Poland (128 percent). The percent increase in car numbers was much smallest in Sweden (14 percent) followed by Denmark (20 percent) and Finland (21 percent). The member state with the highest ration of cars to people in 2004 was the tiny duchy of Luxembourg which has 659 cars per 1,000 people. In Latvia the figure is still just 297 per 1,000. Both figures still easily trail the US figure of 759 cars per 1,000 people in 2003, according to Eurostat The data were released ahead of "car free day" on September 22 which is part of the EU's "Mobility Week", dedicated to sustainable mobility. "The objective of the week is to facilitate the debate on the necessity for changes in behaviour in relation to mobility and in particular to the private car, "Eurostat said.
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GM To Launch More Than 100 Fuel Cell SUVs Worldwide
Chicago (AFP) Sep 18, 2006General Motors will launch a fleet of more than 100 hydrogen fuel-cell powered sports utility vehicles in the US, Europe and Asia in the fall of 2007, the automaker said Monday. The aim is to have commercial distribution by 2010 of the clean-burning cars that emit nothing but water from the tailpipe. |
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