The survey was carried out at the beginning of July, involving 1,001 respondents aged 18 to 74 who use the Internet at least once a week.
The survey shows that 28% of people think that there would be fewer accidents on Latvia's roads if the penalties for offenses were tougher. Meanwhile, more than half (55%) agree that infrastructure needs to be improved, including by introducing more speed cameras. 38% believe that prevention needs to be improved - more explanation and education about the consequences. 7% of respondents do not know how to reduce road accidents.
Respondents could choose several answers in the survey and could also offer their own answer. 14% of respondents used this option to suggest different ways to reduce the number of accidents on the roads.
Most of these respondents call for improvements in road conditions and infrastructure, and there are also a number of calls for increased police controls on the roads.
Women were more likely than men to say that crashes could be reduced by increasing fines for offenders (32% vs. 24%) and improving infrastructure, including increasing the number of speed cameras (58% vs. 52%), but men are more likely than women to say that prevention or awareness-raising is needed to prevent crashes (42% vs. 33%).
According to the State Police, there have been 1,593 road accidents with injured persons this year until mid-July. 1,874 persons were injured and 57 killed.
Meanwhile, data from previous years show that the number of people injured and killed in crashes is increasing. Last year, there were a total of 3,502 accidents with casualties, 118 more than in 2022.
In 2021, 4003 people were injured in crashes, rising to 4037 in 2022 and 4194 in 2023.
A similar trend can be seen in the data on fatalities: the highest number of road deaths in the last three years was recorded in 2021 (148), which fell slightly to 114 in 2022, but rose again last year, with 143 people dying in crashes.
Commenting on the survey data, Jānis Vanks, Director of the Safe Driving School, said that he was not surprised - we always want to blame someone else, especially the infrastructure. In his opinion, the psychological state of drivers is the most important factor in road traffic.
"I have often observed that people who have a well-organized private life, job, business or whatever, who don't have that 'survival stress' in their daily life, usually those people are also quite calm in traffic, not making reckless maneuvers," Vanks said, noting that rushing is a big problem on the roads. "We are always in a hurry, someone is always in the way, we run out of patience quickly. In those moments, hasty decisions are made, which also leads to bad results in the end."
He also pointed out that drivers today are spoiled by the new technologies built into cars:
"The newer the car, the more it does for us. You start to have all sorts of silly thoughts that there are other things you could be doing at the moment you are driving."
