The Czech Republic now writes its own history since January 1, 1993 after the separation of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The country joined NATO on_March 12, 1999 and became a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004. This exact period, since January 1 until June 30, the Czech Republic holds the Presidency of the European Union. The population of this Central European country has varied little in number at around 10.2 million in the last decade. On the other side the vehicle fleet has increased significantly. The total number of vehicles changed from 3,379 thousands in 1993 to 5,239 thousands in 2007 (by 54.7%). The main share is comprised of passenger cars that increased from 2,636 thousands in 1993 to 4,280 thousands in 2007 (by 62.4%). In the same period the number of injury accidents decreased from 25,147 to 23,060 (by 8.3%). More positive development_was achieved in the reduction of the number of fatalities by 19.8%, from 1,524 to 1,222. The main improvement was achieved in 2004-2006.
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