2024-01-08 13:01:53
The latest provisional balance of road accidents for 2023 reflects a stagnation in the numbers of people killed by fatal accidents, with 1,048 accidents recorded, which have resulted in 1,145 fatalities within 24 hours, only three less than those registered in 2022.
The sinister type is still a road departure on conventional roads. Of the 1,145 people who died, 849 (74%) did so on interurban roads, with 21 more victims than those recorded in 2022. 57% of the accidents occurred on work days.
By type of user, victims belonging to vulnerable groups (pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists) continue to increase. In 2023, 463 people died, 38 more than in 2022 (+9%). Within the group, those with the highest mortality rates are motorcyclists, with an increase of 19% compared to the previous year.
By age, the group that has recorded the highest number of road victims is 45-54 years old, with an increase of 11% compared to 2022. Infant mortality has also increased, with 22 minors dying, the second highest figure recorded from the last decade, since 2014.
During the presentation of the Balance, Minister Grande-Marlaska appealed to the responsibility of drivers to try to reduce these mortality figures. “Avoiding distractions, respecting traffic rules and using safety systems are three simple elements that can greatly reduce these dramatic figures and the human tragedies behind them,” he said.
The National Association of Driving Schools (ANAES) emphasizes the need to focus on driver training, with road awareness and sensitization modules in training centers, which help drivers pay more attention behind the wheel, avoiding distractions and risky behavior.
For the president of ANAES, Álvaro Llamas, this call for the responsibility of drivers by the Administration is not enough. You have to reinforce your knowledge.
For Llamas, “the Administration should be brave and go one step further in terms of training and implement the mandatory face-to-face road awareness and awareness modules for those people who are going to obtain a driving license and extend it to the rest of the drivers, if it is necessary. The behavior of drivers behind the wheel has an explanation, and to understand it and correct it, if necessary, the road awareness and sensitization modules are a very good tool,” she points out.
«Spain cannot afford to remain stuck in these data, it is necessary to make an extra effort, on the part of everyone, to lower this mortality rate on our roads. We cannot stop, we must continue working, and these courses would contribute a lot to understanding why accidents occur and the psychology of offending drivers, in order to re-educate them and turn them into responsible and aware drivers. he maintains.
A “worrying trend” for Pons Mobility
In the opinion of Ramón Ledesma, advisor to the consulting firm PONS Mobility, «although the global number of accidents on Spanish roads remains stagnant, the truth is that the distribution of deaths within this global count continues to change. The most significant data is that vulnerable users – especially pedestrians and motorcyclists – go from representing 37% to 40% of deaths. For Ledesma, the data show a “worrying trend” regarding motorcyclists, who continue to increase their share of accidents globally. Thus, in 2000 they represented 6% of the deaths while in 2023 they already represent 25%. For Ramón Ledesma, “forecasts indicate that, without measures to reverse the trend, in 2030 30% of those killed on the road will be motorcyclists.”
Regarding pedestrians, Councilor Ramón Ledesma points out that “while the number of deaths in four-wheeled vehicles decreases by around 10%, pedestrians – especially on high-capacity roads – do not decrease, now representing 1 in every 5 deaths on the highway.” .
From this consultancy they propose to the DGT as a first action to make the problem visible. «We have a particularly striking problem with leisure motorcycles and high power/power/weight ratio. According to ANESDOR data, in 2023 motorcycles with more than 750 cc represented 17% of the market and these mostly have more than 1CV/per kilogram. Its design and construction are carried out to generate especially risky behavior and absolutely lacking any type of logic on a road that we aim to be increasingly safer. We must begin to make visible the high accident rate per km that they generate.
According to Ramón Ledesma, “the control and sanction of incorrect mobile behavior through the mobile phone is not working. Neither do the functionalities of mobile phones and vehicle screens that encourage you not to use them while driving. The set of accidents where there is a catalog of situations related to the driver’s lack of attention to driving is becoming more and more frequent. Due to certain personal or professional situations, or even due to the vehicle’s leisure technology, our attention behind the wheel often does not generate sufficient intensity, causing problems with drowsiness or lack of attention that end in an accident. Therefore, from its point of view, the General Directorate of Traffic must “raise” the problem, explaining and conveying to the driving population the need to “understand” that the action of driving requires permanent special concentrated attention.
Unaffordable figures, according to RACE
For its part, from the Race Foundation They affirm that it is essential to adopt a consensual strategy between the organizations, associations and administrations that make up the mobility and road safety ecosystem to reduce these accident figures.
They consider that the lack of maintenance and low investment in this type of infrastructure does not help to reduce these figures. But, in addition, the increase in taxes for the use of toll highways (which began to be applied on January 1) “represents a new burden on drivers’ pockets and, in addition, entails an increase in road risk by requiring many users to look for more dangerous alternative routes such as those that make up the secondary network.”
They also demand effective training, information and awareness actions for motorists, motorcyclists and road users about the consequences of non-use of safety elements, and non-compliance with mobility and road safety regulations.
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