Technology has made it possible to improve road safety, however, in 2022 the bad news in terms of accidents has not decreased. And it is that, last year there were 1,042 fatal accidents on highways, regional roads, highways, provincial roads, etc. This represents an increase of 4% compared to 2019, the last reference year prior to the pandemic. On the positive side, there are serious injuries, which have been 10% less than in the reference year mentioned, 2019.
As for mobility, in 2022 the return to normality was confirmed after the pandemic that paralyzed the world and imposed various restrictions on free movement. In fact, last year there were 439.8 million long-distance movements, 3% more than in 2019, when they were 427.1 million. Unfortunately, this increase was also equivalent to the number of claims produced.
Despite the fact that in 2022 the data for claims registered in 2019 was exceeded, they are below the 1,180 of 2018, the 1,200 of 2017 and quite far from the maximum of the last ten years, since in 2012 1,903 people died in Spanish roads as a result of a traffic accident. In other words, the trend has been decreasing over the years, fortunately, but 2022 has become the year with the most claims in the last four.
On the positive side is that of long-distance journeys, which is at all-time highs, as is the national vehicle fleet. Despite a greater number of journeys and cars, deaths have not reached peak figures like 2012, despite the worrying upturn.
According to the DGT, “conventional roads are still the ones that register the most deaths. Compared to 2019, deaths on conventional roads (5%) increased more than on motorways and dual carriageways (3%). 833 people died in traffic accidents on conventional roads (73%) and 312 on motorways and dual carriageways (27%), so that out of every 4 fatalities, 3 are on conventional roads and 1 on motorways and dual carriageways”.
The most common type of fatal accident is that of leaving the traffic lane. “Leaving the road accounts for almost half of the deaths (42%). Deaths from this typology have increased by 13% compared to those registered in 2019 ”, the DGT collects in its report. The case of pedestrians also stands out, since 1 in 10 deaths was a pedestrian and died in a hit-and-run. In total, 126 pedestrians lost their lives in 2022 compared to 118 in 2019, which means that 1 in 10 road fatalities were pedestrians.
Although the trend has gone down over the years, since for example in 2004 the accident rate was at 3,500 deaths, the proposals launched by different organizations to increase safety have been various. But what all of them have in common is that they focus on secondary and conventional roads, beyond highways. Thus, RACE, Associated European Motorists (AEA) or PONS Mobility ask for everything from improving the maintenance of these roads, to reducing the maximum speed limit by 5 km/h, to eliminating the 20 km/h margin for overtaking. , going through driving on this type of road in the driving tests carried out by national driving schools.
Despite this, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, assured at a press conference that they were going to continue working on improving safety on Spanish roads. In addition to highlighting that Spain has become an international benchmark in road safety", with accident figures "significantly below" the average for the countries of the European Union. Even so, he wanted to call for prudence and focus on increasing security measures.
In this sense, technology will have a lot to say, since the DGT is working to force new vehicles to incorporate new technology-based devices to reach those zero fatalities in traffic accidents by 2050.
