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Spain’s Roads See A 30% Increase In Deaths Compared To 2019 Spain News

Traffic on Spain’s highways is back to pre-pandemic levels with more vehicles on the roads leading to an increased number of accidents and sadly more deaths.

Speaking at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, Pere Navarro, the General Director of Spain’s traffic authority, the DGT, said that mortality from accidents that happened on the country’s roads has so far this year increased by 30 per cent. This is compared to pre-pandemic 2019, where according to official figures, there were 1,755 deaths on Spanish roads.

Navarro expressed his concern saying this is a “puzzling development,” as, over the last couple of years, Spain has allocated an enormous amount of funding for the maintenance of its motorways and dual carriageways. This has resulted in road fatalities dropping by a third over the last 18 years, which is why the new figures for this year are horrifying.

"The only thing you can do is roll up your sleeves, put the problem on the table and work on it,” he declared.

He also reiterated that the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) is, right now, working on a catalogue of road signs. He also said that they want to relaunch the awareness campaign “You are not alone on the road,” a campaign that centres on the workers' responsibility for maintaining the roads.

"Conservation is what demonstrates the civic level of a society and in Spain we can be proud", as "we have a very good road network in the country.

The official DGT website states that its objective is to create safer roads. It reads, “The DGT intends to address any road safety policy from the perspective provided by the Safe System philosophy.

This applies primarily to policies regarding drivers, vehicles, surveillance, and mobility management, since all of them have a direct impact on the transportation system.

That is to say, in any modification or legislative advance in these matters, or in any other aspect regarding the management and operation of the direct competences of DGT, it will be taken into account that serious injuries and deaths can be prevented, as well as a shared vision of the responsibility to achieve it.

Sources

https://www-lavanguardia-com.translate.goog/vida/20220622/8359673/muertes-autopistas-autovias-crecen-30-respecto-2019.html
https://spanishnewstoday.com/spanish_road_deaths_close_to_tripling_2019_fatalities_1792650-a.html