The European Commission has published road fatalities statistics based on provisional data for 2011 showing that EU progress in cutting road fatalities significantly slowed last year (to–2%) compared with a very promising EU-wide reduction throughout the last decade (on average -6%). Worse still, some EU Member States, like Germany and Sweden, who have very strong safety records, now show a significant increase in deaths. In other Member States, like Poland and Belgium – already lagging behind in road safety – the number of road fatalities went up.