Claire Wilson
THE number of deaths on Spanish roads has fallen to its lowest level since the 1960s.
It is the tenth year in a row that the number of fatal accidents has fallen across the country.
Official figures for 2013 released by the DGT traffic authority reported that 1,128 people had died on Spanish roads last year.
That is a massive drop of 13% on the previous year when 1,301 died.
There are now less deaths on Spanish roads than in the UK, France and German and the average number of deaths per day has plummetted from 10.9 in 2003 to 3.1 last year.
The figures take Spain back to 1960, when the total number of vehicles on the roads was just a million, compared to the 31 million currently circulating, according to the latest DGT figures.
In addition to the decline, the DGT reported that there were 29 days where there were no deaths at all, EVEN including New Year’s Eve.
Factors behind the reduction, which has fallen by 65% since 2005, include new speed limits (motorways have dropped from 130kph to 120kph) as well as hefty fines and bans for the driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The compulsory use of front and rear seatbelts, as well as child seats, was also a factor, although six children who died in traffic accidents were not wearing seatbelts.
The figures also revealed that 80% of fatal accidents took place on normal roads, 15% on motorways and 5% on toll roads.
There were 194 deaths on the road in Andalucia last year, down 27 from the year before.
The worst year for fatalities ever recorded was 1990, when 5,940 people died on Spanish roads.
Hundreds used to die in the early 1990s on every single bank holiday weekend as drivers routinely drove drunk.
May have something to do with people not being able to afford fuel !
Less deaths than UK and Germany?!?!
Yeah right!
did you know 73% of statistics are made up.
This could be true if ALL the road deaths in spain for the whole year occurred near my house. Seems unlikely to me.
Spain with a population of 47 million has fewer road deaths than the UK (63 million), France (66 million), and Germany (81 million). No surprise there.
So, a round of applause for ONLY 1128 deaths on Spanish roads. One can imagine the howls of outrage if four or so jumbo jets fell from Spanish skies every year.
Common guys, I know most of you r over 65 but plz do your math
Uk road death toll 2013: 1754
Spain”…”: 1128
That makes it 55,49% more than in spain
Uk population: 63m
Spain population: 47m
That makes it 34% larger population.
So spain s safety record beats Uk all the way. I know our road network doubles yours in km and quality, but still not an excuse.
Peace
using population size to argue away these stats is extremely flawed thinking. Shanghai, Mumbai, Beijing, and São Paulo each have other 11 million citizens, yet their road death is less than a sixth of the uks…
“do your math” indeed. You may be under 6.5 but try using your brain.
Road Death rates has more to do with design, upkeep, and habits, than simply number of users.
Plus, we all know these figures are just not accurate.
@BigJon
The point I was making is that the figures reported are proportional to population size. This is of course because the figures are absolute. The stats cannot be compared in their current form and should have been presented relative to a tangible measure, such as “road deaths per 100 miles of road”, and then broken down by road type.
Per million population- 2012 official EU report – UK 28, Spain 41. Other than Malta, the UK is the lowest.
Link here: “http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-236_en.htm”
Spain still has the highest incidence of death at pedestrian crossings in the Union.