Latvia, Spain, Portugal and Estonia all reduced their road death tolls by 50% between 2001 and 2009, according to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC).

The A ETSC report said 2009 saw a record improvement in road safety with deaths reduced by 11% over 2008.

2009 saw a record breaking reduction in road deaths spearheaded by Slovakia (36%), Lithuania (26%), Denmark (25%) and Estonia (24%).

For the first time ever, the EU10 achieved a better year-to-year reduction (18%) than the EU15 (8%) in 2009.

In 2009 around 34,900 people were killed in road collisions in EU27, which is already below the maximum of 27,000, which the EU set for 2010.