Traffic Fatalities In Spain Down 7.6% In 2019
Spain News
Published: 02 January 2020 13:13 CET
Updated: 03 January 2020 14:13 CET
The number of traffic related deaths on Spanish roads has seen a big reduction in 2019.
Figures published today by Spain’s traffic authority, the DGT shows that the number of fatalities has dropped by 7.6% with 91 fewer deaths than in 2018.
In 2019, there were 1,007 traffic deaths on interurban roads compared to 1,098 in the previous year.
The number of people who required hospital treatment also saw a drop of 6.7% with a total of 4,395 needing medical attention.
The figures are a positive step in the right direction, especially considering that there were over 10 Million more long-distance journey’s in 2019 than in 2018 according to the DGT.
There are now some 34.5 Million vehicles registered in the country and over 27 Million drivers.
The data was presented at Road Safety Balance 2019 by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska who stressed that the figures were still only provisional and would need to be updated to account for the most recent information on urban roads.
In total there were just 37 days throughout the year where there were no fatalities.
August which is generally a very busy period on Spanish roads had its fewest number of deaths since records began with 98. The month with the fewest number of deaths was April with 74.
Sunday 21 July was the worst day of the year with a total of 13 fatalities recorded.
Over 73% of the deaths (800) occurred on conventional roads, which means they remain the most dangerous in the country in which to drive.
Exiting a road was the most common cause of death with 39%. Frontal collisions caused 23% of deaths and 11% were pedestrian fatalities.
Over 20% of those who were killed were between 45-54 years of age with 221 deaths.
Sadly, the number of motorcyclists who lost their lives increased by 47 to 264 deaths. There were also 115 pedestrians, 40 cyclists and 19 moped riders killed.
There were no fatalities for those travelling by bus, the first time since records began.
Shockingly, the figures also showed that 116 of the recorded deaths could have been prevented if the victims had been wearing a seatbelt. It seems that many of those who take to the country’s roads still fail to see the importance of wearing a safety belt and the protection they offer.
A number of the deaths of two wheeled riders may also have been avoided with 11 of the motorcyclists and 16 cyclists not wearing a helmet when the accident occurred.
Despite the positive figures Interior Minister Grande-Marlaska believes that there is still room for improvement in making Spain’s roads even safer and reducing the number of fatalities. He said “The data seems to indicate that a trend change is being consolidated that began last year in which for the first time and after four years of increase in deaths, there was a slight decrease of 0.8%,”
"The 1,098 violent deaths are unacceptable to our society, and the data we present today is what encourages us to continue working because we all know that traffic accidents are preventable.” he added.
