Spain: second lowest road death toll on record

Spain: second lowest road death toll on record, DGT

Six injured as bus overturns between Vitoria and Pamplona. image: bomberos alava

The current Spanish government had made the road death toll one of its priorities, introducing new speed and other restrictions to bring the accident rate down. The news that 2021 saw the second lowest toll on record will be welcome news to the authorities who have implemented the changes.
The lowest death toll on Spanish roads was as to be expected during the lockdown that saw most stuck in their homes for weeks on end, with the number falling to 870 deaths for the 2020 year.
The number of deaths on the road rose by a little over 10% to 1,004 during 2021 with four out of ten fatalities involving pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
The figures were released today, Friday 7th, by the Interior and the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) who said that mobility levels had almost returned to 2019 levels. The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the volume of road trips in 2021 was only 8% lower than in 2019, a decrease very similar to that registered in mortality between the two years. In 2019, 1,098 people died in the 24 hours following a traffic accident, 8.6% more than in 2021.
According to the minister there were 921 accidents with fatalities, whilst a further 3,728 were seriously injured. The latter is 755 less than those registered in 2019.
The number of deaths on the roads51 is not the full picture, with those that occur in towns and cities and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of local police and their respective councils not included in the road death toll quoted by the minister. It is not known whether councils recorded a similar drop in deaths or whether they also recorded their second lowest number of fatalities on record.


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Written by

Peter McLaren-Kennedy

Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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