Cristina Hodgson
DESPITE significant reductions in mobility due to COVID-19 restrictions, 32 people have lost their lives on Spanish roads this Easter.
According to official data released by the Directorate General of Road Traffic (DGT), road deaths in Spain, in the midst of the pandemic, have returned to 2016 levels.
The number of fatalities over Easter have been registered between 15:00 on Friday March 26 and 23.59 on Monday April 5.
Despite a 46% reduction of mobility compared to those registered in Easter 2019, when the pandemic had not yet been declared, 5 more people have lost their lives on Spanish roads this year to pre-COVID-19 records.
The 32 registered fatalities is the highest number since 2016 when 41 victims were recorded. Last year only 12 fatalities were recorded during the same period.
This Easter has also seen 97 people hospitalised with road traffic injuries.
Analysing the data, the fatal accidents have been concentrated especially on weekends (14 on the first weekend and 9 on the second).
The DGT have highlighted the following stats:
- 70% of the road deaths have occurred on conventional roads.
- 50% of the fatal vehicle accidents were in the 35-54 age group
- 14% were not wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.
- 47% of the deceased were vulnerable road users: two pedestrians, one cyclist and 12 motorcyclists.
The accidents were scattered throughout Spain and no provincial road section has accumulated more than one fatal accident.
The road deaths occurred in Andalucia (7), Valencia (5), Castilla y Leon (4), Galicia (3), Catalunya (2), Navarre (2), Aragon (1), Asturias (1), Balearic Islands (1), Extremadura (1), Madrid (1), Murcia (1), La Rioja (1) and the Basque Country (1).
The resealed data aims to serve as a wake-up call to all drivers, so that they continue to exercise extreme caution at the wheel, road deaths can occur even during short car journeys.
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