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More and more cities achieve years without road fatalities

„Vision Zero“ is not an unattainable goal

Nov 20, 2025 Safety on the road
  • Several cities in Europe with around 300,000 inhabitants have been successful
  • DEKRA Vision Zero Award 2025 goes to German city of Detmold
  • Special recognition for Finnish capital Helsinki: no road deaths in 12 months

“Vision Zero” – the goal of zero traffic fatalities or, ultimately, serious injuries – is not unattainable. Hundreds of cities around the world have achieved zero road fatalities in at least one calendar year since 2009, according to official national statistics. Among them are now several with around 300,000 inhabitants. The DEKRA Vision Zero Award for the best performance among cities over 50,000 inhabitants has been presented to the German city of Detmold.

Among the cities which have recorded zero road fatalities within their city limits in at least one calendar year are the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, as well as Bergen (Norway), Katowice (Poland) and Vigo (Spain). All of them have between 280,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. Bielefeld (Germany), which has a population of over 300,000, is new on the list, while the Finnish city of Espoo, almost as big, has achieved the goal in a total of three years.
“In the 30 countries our experts have analyzed, a total of almost 1,500 cities have achieved zero traffic deaths at least once, many of them for several consecutive years. This shows that Vision Zero is not a far-off utopia, but a reality that can be achieved today in a local context, if all relevant stakeholders unite around this common goal. Progress in road safety is not a matter of chance, but of dedication, leadership and collaboration,” said DEKRA CEO Stan Zurkiewicz at the presentation of the DEKRA Road Safety Report 2025 in Brussels. “The fact remains that every road fatality is one too many. Therefore, everybody must keep up and intensify their efforts towards Vision Zero.”
Entitled “The Changing Face of Mobility”, the DEKRA Road Safety Report 2025 deals with the milestones in road safety over the past decades on the one hand, and the challenges associated with major trends such as automation, connectivity, and electrification on the other. Jann Fehlauer, Executive Vice President of DEKRA Group, presented the report and highlighted its key messages in Brussels. The report is available for download at www​.dekra-roadsafety​.com .
In a video message, EU Road Safety Coordinator Kristian Schmidt, said on the report:
“I find myself in strong agreement with the key issues you've identified in this year’s report. Despite excellent progress, it has decelerated in recent years. Your analysis provides a clear roadmap for where we must focus our attention and resources.”

The DEKRA Vision Zero Award 2025

The presentation of the report was followed by the ceremony for the DEKRA Vision Zero Award. In eight of the past ten years, Detmold (Germany) has recorded zero road fatalities in built-up areas. For this success, the city of just under 77,000 inhabitants received the DEKRA Vision Zero Award 2025, narrowly having the edge on Krimpenerwaard and Stichtse Vecht (both Netherlands) as well as Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (Belgium) and the German cities of Lüdenscheid, Rheine, Aalen, Herten, Waiblingen, Lingen, Bad Homburg, Langenhagen, and Frechen. These cities recorded the same number of zero-fatality-years but are slightly smaller or – in the case of Lüdenscheid, Rheine, and Bad Homburg – have already been honored with the DEKRA Vision Zero Award.
Rainer Steffens, head of the EU representation of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, accepted the award on behalf of Detmold at the DEKRA annual reception in Brussels. Detmold’s mayor Frank Hilker says about the award: “Road safety is a key issue for us, and we are delighted to receive this wonderful award. We are currently developing a new integrated traffic concept for Detmold, in which road safety will continue to play an important role. The DEKRA Vision Zero Award is both validation of what we have achieved and an incentive and encouragement to keep up our efforts.”
Special recognitions were awarded to Ljubljana, where there were no fatalities in 2024, and to Finland’s capital Helsinki, where in the twelve months between July 2024 and July 2025 not a single traffic death occurred. “This is a big achievement for a city of almost 700,000 people”, said the DEKRA CEO. “Although there will not be a zero-fatality calendar year showing in the statistics, this should be an encouragement for all towns and cities to strive for excellence in road safety.”
The DEKRA Vision Zero Award has been handed out since 2016 to a European city with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants and an especially impressive performance. The award goes to the city with the most zero-fatality years within a decade and, in case of several equal candidates, the highest population.

Interactive DEKRA Vision Zero Map

The DEKRA Vision Zero Map shows all available data from national statistics which DEKRA experts have been analyzing since 2014. According to the data, a total of more than 900 European towns and cities over 50,000 inhabitants have already achieved the goal of zero traffic deaths in at least one year since 2009. The interactive map can be found at www​.dekra-vision-zero​.com . In addition to 23 European countries, it includes data from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Colombia and Chile, as well as Japan and Australia.
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