Although Spain is one of the European states with the best road safety data -in 2020 it was the fourth with the lowest mortality rate in road accidents (29 deaths per million inhabitants)-, it has some areas of improvement that could contribute to reducing the number of accidents and traffic victims. This is clear from the results obtained by our country in the Baseline Project, a program that monitors progress in road safety in member countries through eight key performance indicators related to the behavior of people, vehicles, infrastructure and post accident care.
In the case of Spain, if we compare it with the other 17 countries analysed, it obtains a medium-high result in aspects related to seat belts, helmets and, in some cases, speed. In contrast, assessments specifically linked to conventional highway speed, alcohol consumption, and distractions indicate that more work is needed to improve in these areas. It is also convenient to address the incorrect use of child restraint systems, since they are only used correctly in 46% of cases, the lowest data recorded in the report.
With regard to speed, in Spain, the level of compliance with the established speed limit varies depending on the type of road: while on the highway, 63% of passenger cars circulate within the legal limits (high value compared to with other countries), on highways this percentage drops to 51%. In the case of conventional roads, compliance with the established speed limit is 43%, that is, a low level and similar to that registered by Belgium (46%).
On urban roads with a 50km/h limit, the level of speed compliance by passenger cars is 65%, the third highest value of the 13 countries with which the limit is shared.
On 30 km/h streets, the level of compliance is 32%, the highest value of the three countries for which data is available. The average speed of cars on streets 30 is 11 km/h lower than that of streets 50 (36 versus 47 km/h), a difference that represents a great reduction in the risk of fatal or serious collision, as specified by the study.
Regarding distractions, the percentage of drivers who did not use mobile devices while driving ranged from 88% in the city to 95% on the highway. Compared with other countries, these are low values, although the authors of the study indicate that it should be taken into account that there have been methodological differences. As the DGT recalls, in Spain the condition that the device had to be necessarily held by hand was not imposed, something that other countries did.
On the other hand, the percentage of drivers who gave negative results to alcohol tests carried out by traffic agents varied between 96% on motorways and dual carriageways and 98% in cities. The lowest value of negatives (88%) was observed on weekend nights, the second lowest value among all countries with data.
The Baseline project is funded by the European Commission and developed by a consortium of 18 countries led by the Belgian IVAS Institute, in which Spain has been represented by the DGT's National Road Safety Observatory.
As its promoters highlight, it is the largest effort made by Europe in the field of data collection and analysis for road safety indicators, developed between 2020 and 2022 and, among its objectives, the one to support the countries in the harmonized collection and delivery of key performance indicators, in accordance with common methodologies, and enhance the capacities of those countries that had never carried out this type of work before.
The Baseline project has continuity and its continuation has been launched in another project called Trendline, in which 25 Member States participate. In this project, progress will be made in the homogenization of the methodologies for the elaboration of the indicators and additional experimental indicators will be investigated.
In Spain, the DGT explains that it will continue to measure all the indicators annually and will analyze the feasibility of incorporating indicators on the level of security of the infrastructure and the response time after a claim. These results, he adds, will be used to monitor the progress of the 2030 Road Safety Strategy, evaluate new measures and carry out comparative analyzes with the countries with the best indicator values.
