” “One car per two inhabitants: a record-breaking figure for the EU, which however is still far from US numbers. On the occasion of the Car-Free Day, which is held today in the EU, Eurostat, the statistics office of the EU Commission, published a survey about the use of cars in the 25 member states. The Day, which "is part of a week-long while awareness-raising campaign", intends "to promote the debate on the need to change mobility behaviours", especially by reducing the use of private vehicles. "The highest number of cars per inhabitant is that of Luxembourg (659 vehicles per one thousand people), Italy (581) and Portugal (572)", followed by Germany, Malta and Austria, explain the Brussels experts who have worked on 2004 data. At the opposite end of the spectrum are Slovakia (222), Hungary (280) and Latvia (297). "The total number of circulating vehicles in Europe has increased between 1990 and 2004 by 38%". Namely, in the 25-state EU, there are 472 cars per one thousand people, while in the USA such figure reaches 759. The Eurostat survey shows an increase in the number of registered cars, which seems to confirm the increase in the per capita income, as well as in traffic and environmental pollution. Safety instead is faring well: "The number of deaths from accidents was 95 per one million inhabitants in 2004". On the decrease, therefore, since it was 162 in 1991.” “
