Shocking increase in Valencia road accidents

At a conference on road safety it has emerged that there has been a shocking increase in Valencia road accidents, a growth of 8,157 percent in five years. This staggering number has led to the Valencia provincial prosecutor for Road Safety, Valencia Eduardo Olmedo, demanded that the regional government make it a requirement for personal mobility vehicles and scooters (PMVs) to be licenced, have licence plates and be insured. 
The demand came at a conference in the city entitled “Towards a sustainable, safe and connected urban micro-mobility in Valencia: challenges for the city in terms of road safety of Personal Mobility Vehicles.” Speaking at the conference socialist councillor Aarón Cano warned that the accident rate for scooters had skyrocketed due to “an explosion” in the use of these vehicles. Cano pointed out that between 2017 and 2021, the number of accidents had risen from 7 to 578 in the city, an 8,157 percent increase in Valencia road accidents. She also stated that in 2021 alone, scooter accidents had grown by 40% and that it was now necessary “to protect the driver and the possible victim.”
Olmedo added to the views of others by saying that “with regard to the lack of license plates, identification of these vehicles is impossible in the event of any accident or mishap.” For this reason alone, he had demanded the change in the legislation.”
Speaking at the same conference the Director General Territorial Policy, Public Works and Mobility, Roser Obrer, stressed that alternatives must be given to citizens. She said “it was important that people would consider coming to work in the city from metropolitan areas and that it was important to have alternatives to standard forms of transport such as cars.” In response Councillor for Sustainable Mobility, Giuseppe Grezzi, said “it was a great opportunity to reduce motor vehicle usage but that it had become a great risk for mobility and universal accessibility.”
This is not a new issue, with the council having approved the Mobility ordinance in 2019 which brought in additional protections such as the need for users to wear helmets. These measures are known to have helped limit the level of injuries but had not made made any difference to the 8,157 percent increase in Valencia road accidents.

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