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Horrifying statistics, analysed by pro-Brexit group Facts4EU, expose just how poor EU member states’ death toll from accidents on roads is when compared with the UK. In some nations, such as Bulgaria and Romania, it was three times more likely for a road traffic crash to result in death than in Britain. The devastating figures were described by leader Brexiteer and Tory MP Andrew Bridgen as a “tragedy”, before he called on the bloc to do more to raise its own standards to that of the UK’s.

He told Express.co.uk the “EU had much to learn from the UK”, while adding that despite the bloc offering a “level-playing field for nations”, it had not ensured its safety standards were up to scratch.

The latest data from the European Commission shows that across the bloc in 2018, 25,178 people tragically died in road collisions on member states’ roads.

And although the UK was deemed to have the lowest death rate per million of any nation inside the EU two years ago, the terrifying data reveals where in the bloc the most hazardous roads are.

In the UK across 2018, 1,839 deaths occurred from road traffic accidents, which equates to around 28 deaths per million people.

Yet, when other nations’ deaths per million people were analysed the statistics made grim reading.

The worst death rate was seen in Romania, which was three times as high as the UK, with 96 people dying per million people.

Bulgaria (87) was the second worst country, followed by Latvia and Croatia, which both had rates of 77 dying from road traffic accidents per million people.

Mr Bridgen, who himself worked as a qualified transport manager, said of the figures: “Every death is a tragedy and avoidable deaths in road accidents we take very seriously in the UK.

“It is clear that the EU have never brought their safety standards up to those of the UK despite it being, supposedly, a level playing field.”

He added: “The fact is that the major contributing factor to road accidents in the UK, is foreign lorries.

“What we need to do is one of the major risks on UK roads is European lorries with steering wheels on the wrong side because they have different blind spots because drivers can’t see.

“They are seven times more likely to be involved in an accident in the UK than a UK registered lorry.”

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When quizzed on why the UK had seen the lowest death rates in the bloc, Mr Bridgen concluded: “I think we have better regulations for vehicle maintenance with the MOTs and we have better signage and maintenance of our road networks.

“And also we have more enforcement and strict drink and drug drive rules.

“The EU has much to learn from the UK and there is huge room for improvement.”

Comparisons with the UK, also showed that in wealthier nations such as Italy (55) and Portugal (68) you were twice as likely to die as a result of a road traffic accident.

With the UK seeing the lowest death rate, it was closely followed by Ireland (29), Denmark (30) and Sweden (32).

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Commenting on the statistics, Facts4EU said on its website: “A surprise it may not be, but nevertheless we feel it is important to portray as complete a picture as possible for the British public, as the United Kingdom completes its exodus from the EU over the next six months.

“Once again, the United Kingdom tops a table for EU countries. And once again the EU fails to report this. Come to that, the BBC will fail to report it too, we have no doubt.”

It comes after road safety experts at GEM Motoring Assist reported in January that car crashes are more likely to occur if motorists are feeling tired behind the wheel, with collisions like to cause serious injury or death.

Data from charity Brake has unearthed that in around 20 percent of road crashes, exhaustion was a factor, while feeling tired leaves drivers around 50 percent more likely to have a crash which results in death of serious injury.

Analysis also showed that more than one third of collisions were put down to exhaustion in drivers under the age of 30.

Neil Worth, road safety officer at GEM said: “Think about situations where you may be at increased risk of a collision because you’re tired.

“It may be the length of the journey you’re making that puts you at risk, but it could be your general state of alertness before you get behind the wheel.”

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