The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) observes with concern how the figures for fatal accidents on Spanish roads have remained stagnant for a decade. The lines in the statistics on the number of accidents and people who have lost their lives on the road in recent years only experienced a significant downward curve in 2020 coinciding with the movement restrictions due to the pandemic.
Last year, 1,145 people died in traffic accidents, 4% more than in 2019, which is the reference year for statistical purposes as it was prior to the pandemic. Then, traffic accidents claimed the lives of 1,101 people. Compared to 2021, the number of deaths increased by 141 people in 2022.
Despite the fact that community regulations require manufacturers, from July 2022, to equip the vehicles they market in the European Union with a series of driving assistance systems (ADAS) to reinforce safety road, the impact of this measure may be slowed by the age of the vehicle fleet. Spain has one of the oldest fleets in all of Europe with an average age above 14 years, which means that many cars do not have the latest safety standards implemented.
With the intention of improving accident figures on the road, Traffic works with the idea, still in an embryonic phase, of classifying vehicles based on their safety levels. Susana Gómez, deputy general director of Vehicles of the DGT, advanced it during the celebration of the second edition of the Barometer on Autonomous and Connected Vehicles of the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (Anfac).
Gómez said that the DGT welcomes establishing a classification of the vehicle fleet based on the level of protection and security offered by automobiles and incorporating the data into the vehicle registry. This is a measure similar to the one that Traffic already adopted in 2016 when it established environmental labels based on the polluting emissions of vehicles.
The idea announced by the Deputy Director of Traffic is in such an initial phase that the organization itself assures that it has not yet been determined whether the vehicles must certify their level of safety by means of a sticker attached to the windshield or through other certification mechanisms. “The first thing we must do is define what a safe vehicle is. From there, know what a city wants within its city. That is, what vehicles are going to be allowed, taking into account environmental, safety and public space criteria,” said Susana Gómez during the event.
For the moment, Tráfico closely follows the security policies applied by other countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom, and based on these experiences it will try to establish a consensus with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, as well as with the other actors involved in trafficking.
In any circumstance, the DGT firmly maintains that "discrimination must be positive." In other words, in no case will less safe vehicles be prohibited from accessing cities, but when they can circulate will be carefully regulated.
Permission to circulate in the city during all hours of the day, without exception, will be conditional on the level of safety of the vehicle. Otherwise, specific time slots will be established for its circulation. This initiative's priority objective is to protect vulnerable users, who, since 2019, represent more than 50% of fatalities in traffic accidents.
