Six million police checks. 400,000 more this year. This is one of the pillars of the shock plan launched by the Home Ministry in April last year to combat the ever-record increase in road deaths. … 2023 is the year for the reform of the Traffic Act. From the point of view of Fernando Grande-Marlesca, who is in charge of the portfolio, these measures are “not enough.”
The statistics speak for themselves: as of April 23, 2024, there were 507 deaths in road accidents, 27 more and 6% more than a year ago. The minister also pointed out that the number of deaths over the weekend remained stable, but the number of deaths that occurred between Monday and Friday increased with 22 more deaths.
In particular, if we analyze the total for the year up to last Sunday June 23, the last day counted by the DGT, there are 507, already three more than the 504 counted for the same period in 2023. Or the same, with only the last week of June left, the number of deaths in inter-city road accidents is already high. Scary statistics.
Evolution of Fatalities in Accidents on Urban Roads
ABC
Traffic estimates that there will be 94 million long-distance journeys on Spanish roads this summer, 45.7 in July and 48.3 in August. Many of them will accompany operations across the strait to Portugal. In total, the interior estimates that more than 9 million tourists will visit Spain this summer.
“The scene on highways and highways is very alarming and we need to pay close attention to it. The increase in accidents is already 30% (in the five months to 2024, 122 people died, compared to 97 last year). The underlying problem is “careless driving,” advises this newspaper. Ramon Ledesma, advisory councilor of the company Pons Mobility, explains.
“On the highway, the vehicle invites us to relax and focus on leisure tasks on the mobile phone or on the vehicle screen or not. The most significant figure is the number of pedestrians: 14 to 22, 60%. Workers (trucks) or those stopped by an accident or breakdown, even the braking mark. 10 years ago (2014) the number was 37. We can expect to reach this number by summer,” he added.
For his part, Jorge Ortega, a road safety expert at Fundación MAPFRE, tells this newspaper, “Some of the measures that have produced such good results in recent years have run out, and even if they have reached their maximum efficiency and travel, we must continue to use many of them to protect what we have achieved. Some of these measures are point-based licensing, road Other success factors include network development, vehicle technology, voice of victims’ associations and road safety education.
“We should not give up on finding new measures, here, research is based on the statistics of accidents, their occurrence pattern, anthropological data or socio-cultural determinants, up to a specific and deep investigation of each serious accident. Beyond solving the responsibilities, it must be investigated in order to know its causes. Knowledge of the causes. It gives us an opportunity to prevent them,” he says.
In fact, reaching the target of casualties while driving is “possible in the city before 2030 and on the highway before 2050. In 1989 there were more than 9,300 deaths in Spain, if we look back at the path we have traveled, we will think that the current statistics are completely utopian, well, keep walking, work, invest. Let’s do it, zero is the goal “It costs zero and resignation cannot be an option,” says the road safety expert.
What’s more, according to a study by the Spanish Road Association, lower toll measures continue to reduce accidents on regular roads where road departures are frequent. Nearly 300 deaths and hundreds of serious injuries a year could be prevented through high-friction pavement treatments on curves, installation of road reflectors, shoulder treatments on straight roads, blinds, beacons and sound guides. “The edges, like the center section of the paths, to name a few of them,” concludes Ortega.
A new movement
The way of moving in cities has changed, where more and more vulnerable users do not need permission to circulate and consequently do not know the rules. For example, scooters. “They don’t go at a maximum speed of 25 km/h, sometimes two people walk around on the pavement or with headphones. Also, the only possible element of protection for users over 16, insurance, is not mandatory,” assures Aesleme (Association for the Study of Spinal Cord Injury) Director Mar Cogollos.
“Another worrisome issue is e-commerce – on very old vans, motorcycles, bicycles or scooters – which requires looking at the navigator instead of the road and delivering packages in a very short time and in many ways. In addition, VMP and bicycle delivery drivers are not always visible, they wear reflectors, At night they wear dark clothes and carry loads on their backs,” he concludes.
