Police campaigns focus on controlling scooters, but the group with the most deaths on the streets of Barcelona in 2023 has turned out to be pedestrians. Of the 20 fatalities in traffic accidents in the Catalan capital, nine were people who were on foot and who died after being run over by some means of transport. The victims are of all ages, from one year old for the youngest to 79 years old for the oldest, and the cases are very varied and involve motorcycles, a tram, a bus, and vans and trucks.
While the involvement of scooters and bicycles has decreased, the number of collisions by heavy vehicles of people who were on foot, the only way of getting around that all citizens, at one time or another, use, has especially increased. One of the most tragic events was that of a one-year-old child who was hit by a van on a single-platform street in the Ribera neighborhood. The death of an elderly man also caused great consternation when he was leaving the Sant Pau hospital and a wall fell on him after a truck hit it.
Such a high number of pedestrian deaths has not been recorded since 2016, the last year in which the most vulnerable link in the concrete jungle were the main victims of traffic accidents in Barcelona. That place had been occupied in recent years by motorcyclists, who in 2023 will be just behind pedestrians, with eight fatalities. Far behind are the two scooter drivers who lost their lives and the driver of a car. In total, 20 people lost their lives on the streets of Barcelona during the last year, three less than in 2022.
Serious injuries, on the other hand, have been on the rise. The number of serious injuries has increased especially among cyclists, who have tripled, reaching 26, and those who ride scooters, which have doubled to reach 11. “It has returned to normal in terms of mobility, but the way of moving has changed; We do it more by bike and scooter than four years ago and that translates into accidents,” said the Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Laia Bonet. Those responsible for mobility at the City Council hope to be able to approve the personal mobility vehicle ordinance as soon as possible to be able to begin applying the mandatory helmet requirement. Its processing at a technical level is already completed, but its political processing has been hindered by the political climate of budget negotiation and possible government pacts.
They also believe that the implementation of the motorcycle plan, which is expected in the coming months, will provide solutions to the accident rate. It is not a minor issue, since the number of people injured on scooters or bikes, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the modal share, is well below the eight dead motorcyclists and the 111 who have spent more than 24 hours in a hospital. with significant injuries. In urban mobility as a whole, serious injuries have increased by 30%, although part of this increase is attributable to a methodological change in the monitoring of accident and hospital reports.
As for pedestrians, the mayor of the Urban Police, Pedro Velázquez, warns of “a lack of awareness on the part of some pedestrians who do not pay attention to the traffic light or cross anywhere.” In addition to the nine fatalities, there were 58 pedestrians seriously injured. Regarding cars, officers continue to be surprised by the number of drivers who start answering WhatsApp messages while they are behind the wheel, the main cause attributable to accidents according to municipal statistics collected by the Urban Police.
