Brno tops the road safety blacklist: eight killed in a year

In 2024, eight people were killed in road accidents on the streets of Brno; last year the toll was two, while almost fifty more suffered serious injuries. Despite these figures, city hall spent years refusing to install fixed speed cameras, and road safety has become one of the central issues of the campaign ahead of the Czech municipal elections.

The worst score among major cities

According to the Generali insurance company's road accident index, which measures the severity of accidents in municipalities — the share of serious and fatal cases among all crashes — Brno ranks last among all Czech regional centres over the past 12 months. Generali spokesman Jan Marek attributes this to a combination of factors: heavy traffic, an overloaded road network, roadworks and human error.

Michal Radimský, a road safety expert at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Brno University of Technology (VUT), admits: "Nobody knows for sure" why the city consistently ranks at the bottom, calling it "surprising and worrying." Pavel Čížek, the BESIP road safety coordinator for Brno, adds that the city has very heavy pedestrian traffic, and that at crossings many people fail to observe basic rules — not keeping to the right side of the crossing, not making sure it's safe to step onto the road, or crossing against the light.

The opposition sharply criticises city hall for the fact that, after eight years of ODS rule in Brno, not a single fixed speed camera has been put into operation — even cameras already installed, for example on Stará Osada, which are meant to catch drivers running red lights, are not working. "It's a real disgrace," says Adam Zemek, leader of the Pirates and Fakt Brno coalition (running together in the election under the name TU!). Green Party councillor Jasna Flamiková adds: "Prague has a hundred fixed radars, Brno has none, and nobody is taking this seriously."

The system on Kníničská street was supposed to launch back in the middle of last year, but the project stalled amid lengthy negotiations between city hall, the municipal police and the state police — the parties still haven't agreed on who will analyse the data and where the fines will go. Transport councillor Petr Kratochvíl (ODS) calls the issue "complicated" and says city hall is waiting for the outcome of a debate on whether it's worth investing in technology that would ultimately benefit the state. City hall spokesman Filip Poňuchálek hopes to launch the system this autumn, but there is no exact date yet.

Pedestrians suffer the most

The authors of the Generali index warn that pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists suffer far more serious consequences in accidents than car drivers. Last year these "vulnerable road users" accounted for only 12.2% of all accidents, yet made up 75% of the dead and almost 77% of those seriously injured. The statistics recorded a total of 24,503 accidents, 36 deaths and 346 people seriously injured; of these, accidents involving pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists numbered 2,996, with 27 deaths and 266 serious injuries.

In last year's ranking of regional centres by danger specifically to these road users, Brno came 11th out of 13 — only Zlín and České Budějovice fared worse, where every hundred accidents bring one death and twenty serious injuries.

What the candidates are proposing ahead of the elections

ODS list leader and mayoral candidate Kamila Zlatuška admits: "The situation is catastrophic," and proposes adopting the Swedish Vision Zero model, combining safe infrastructure, modern technology and speed enforcement; she first encountered the idea of fixed speed cameras while living in Finland. At the same time, it was ODS that has governed Brno for the past eight years and was responsible, among other things, for transport.

The Greens, led by Natálie Venclová, propose extending the 30 km/h zone across the whole of the wider city centre and gradually to other residential areas, as well as making crossings safer with traffic islands, better lighting and special measures near schools. Councillor Jasna Flamiková proposes installing bollards at intersections and crossings so that cars physically cannot stop there. The Pirates, represented by Adam Zemek, want to focus on the most dangerous spots and introduce 30 km/h zones with speed bumps on side streets.

Christian Democrat and Mayors and Independents (STAN) candidate Jakub Hruška proposes introducing so-called "school streets": closing roads near schools to traffic for half an hour during rush hour so children can get to class safely — a pilot project is already running near the school on Tuháčkova street. ANO candidate Václav Trojan believes it's more important to get smart traffic lights and intersection telematics working and to reduce congestion, part of which is caused by roadworks.

Expanding 30 km/h zones and what the experts say

Architect Michal Sedláček, leader of the New Brno movement, believes that some transit traffic needs to be routed out of the centre first — that is, the large city bypass needs to be completed; according to the city hall spokesman, three of the necessary sections are already finished, another is under construction, and it is the responsibility of the state Road and Motorway Directorate. Sedláček also proposes drawing up a comprehensive transport document that would help systematically plan bike lanes, crossings and traffic lights.

The expansion of 30 km/h zones is happening alongside the growth of so-called blue parking zones. According to Michal Radimský, Brno probably has the largest coverage of such zones among regional centres — and that's the right move, since there's simply no need to drive 50 km/h through the middle of a residential district. Speed-limit road markings painted directly on the asphalt also help. According to city hall data, the length of roads with reduced speed limits has almost doubled in recent years — from about 168 km in 2015 to around 390 km last year.

Both experts agree: there are no simple political solutions. "It sounds like a nice slogan, but even we, as transport specialists, don't know how to do it," says Radimský. He notes that restricting car traffic in places with the heaviest footfall clearly helps — for example, near the main railway station, where thousands of pedestrians pass every day and, in his view, cars simply have no place there.

The municipal elections and the first round of the Senate elections will take place on 9–10 October 2026, with the first results expected on Saturday afternoon and evening; a possible second round of the Senate elections would follow on 16–17 October.

Also read: Brno: what to see and where to go

Source: seznamzpravy.cz