Car accidents are the main cause of death for British holidaymakers. Outside Europe, life for road users is getting riskier

British holidaymakers travelling abroad have never been safer – and the main reason is dramatically improved road safety.

Research by The Independent in the UK has concluded that the average death toll on the roads since 1991 has fallen by two-thirds across western Europe.

Spain, the most popular destination for British tourists, has done even better. Road safety has seen a five-fold improvement, with road deaths 81 per cent lower than they were a quarter-century ago. Only neighbouring Portugal has done better, with 82 per cent fewer fatalities.

Road accidents are the main cause of death for UK holidaymakers, and the dramatic enhancement of road safety in key destinations means the overall risk profile has dwindled, even as concerns over terrorism increase.

Once beyond the European Union, roads become much more dangerous. Turkey has almost four times as many road fatalities per capita than Britain, while Egypt is almost off the scale: in a country where car ownership is lower than the UK, the fatal accident rate is nearly 10 times higher