European Union (EU 28) with 25,249 fatalities and around 130,000 serious injuries in 2018 and 2017 respectively. Overall, between 2001 and 2018 there was an almost 50% reduction in road deaths in the EU from 55,092 in 2001 to the 2018 figure of 25,249. In 2018 the EU average road death rate was 49 people per million inhabitants. Also in 2018 Romania had the worst figures in this regard with 96 people out of a million inhabitants dying on the roads, Belgium had the median score standing at 52 deaths per million, and the UK scored the best with 28 people out of every million dying on its roads. International comparison In 1996, the US had about 2 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles, compared to 1.9 in Germany, 2.6 in France, and 1.5 in the UK. In 1998, there were 3,421 fatal crashes in the UK, the fewest since 1926; in 2010 this number was further reduced to 1,857 and was attributed to the 2009–2010 scrappage scheme. The sizable traffic safety lead enjoyed by the US since the 1960s had narrowed significantly by 2002, with the US improvement percentages lagging in 16th place behind those of Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, United Kingdom, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland in terms of deaths per thousand vehicles, while in terms of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles travelled, the US had dropped from first place to tenth place. US specificities Transportation safety in the United States is monitored by various agencies. Government-collected data, such as that from the US Fatality Analysis Reporting System, show other countries achieving safety performance improvements over time greater than those achieved in the US: Research on the trends in use of heavy vehicles indicate that a significant difference between the US and other countries is the relatively high prevalence of pickup trucks and SUVs in the US. A 2003 study by the US Transportation Research Board found that SUVs and pickup trucks are significantly less safe than passenger cars, that non-US branded vehicles tend to be safer than US branded vehicles, and that the size and weight of a vehicle has a significantly smaller effect on safety than the quality of the vehicle's engineering. In the US, the level of large commercial truck traffic has substantially increased since the 1960s, while highway capacity has not kept pace with the increase