A total of 1,154 people lost their lives last year on Spanish roads, which is the highest number since 2019, which then held the historical minimum annual number of fatalities on interurban roads before mobility restrictions due to the pandemic contributed. to reduce road fatalities in 2020 and 2021.
During 2024, 1,040 fatal accidents were recorded in which, in addition to the deaths, 4,634 people suffered serious injuries that required hospitalization. It should be noted that the data are provisional and refer to accidents on interurban roads recorded a maximum of 24 hours after the accidents. This was announced this Friday by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who pointed out that the death toll “is unaffordable, we neither should nor can we accept that road mobility has such a high price.”
It should be noted that 2024 has marked a milestone in terms of road mobility by registering the highest figures in the historical series, 462,888,133 trips on interurban roads, 3.15 percent more (14.1 million) than the previous year. As far as the vehicle fleet and driver census are concerned, the increase has not reached 1 percent.
irregular year
2024 has also had irregular behavior in terms of road accidents. In the first quarter, fatalities increased by 16 percent, which led the Government to design a Shock Plan that served to stabilize mortality figures in the second and third quarters, with hardly any growth compared to 2023, and that has reduced significantly in the last quarter, in which it was recorded 7 percent less than the previous year.
However, multiple casualty accidents, those in which two or more fatalities are recorded, increased. Of the total fatal accidents (1,040), 91 (9 percent) were accidents with multiple fatalities in which 18 percent of the fatalities (205) were concentrated. Compared to 2023, this represents a 15 percent increase in accidents (+12) and a 17 percent increase in fatalities (+30).
There has also been a notable increase in fatalities traveling by van, a fact for which an in-depth study on these accidents has already been commissioned. Finally, in 2024 there were 28 days in which no fatalities were recorded in road traffic accidents.
New radar distribution
Conventional roads continue to register 72 percent of fatalities, but in 2024 deaths on highways and highways have increased by 7 percent (+22).
This fact, in the words of Marlaska, will lead the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) to adapt the distribution of the new radars to be installed to the new circumstances of the accident rate and the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard to review the surveillance they carry out. on the road, increasing it in those provinces with high accident rates on high-capacity roads.
Reasons for the accident
As for the reason for the accident, going off the road continues to be the event with the most fatalities with 42 percent, 479 people, followed by head-on collisions, with 252 deaths, 29 more than in 2023.
Passenger cars account for 48% of fatalities, although vans registered a 98% increase in deaths (79 in 2024). The mortality of vulnerable users decreased by 3%, highlighting the reduction in pedestrian deaths (-15%), although there were 7 road workers hit by cars. Motorcycles continue to be the main victims among vulnerable users, in a context of a 7% increase in registrations and a 13% increase in accidents on highways and highways.
Andalusia and Catalonia accumulate more victims
By community, Andalusia and Catalonia recorded the highest numbers of victims, with 20 and 12 percent respectively. At the opposite extreme, La Rioja and Cantabria were the regions with the lowest numbers of fatalities.
The largest increases were recorded in Andalusia with 35 more deaths than in 2023 and the Valencian Community with 22 more fatalities. On the other hand, the greatest reductions have occurred in Extremadura (-20) and Catalonia (-16).
Similar figures from 2015 onwards
Since 2004, the accident rate on Spanish roads has been steadily decreasing in Spain, going from almost 3,500 deaths to less than 1,200 in the last five years. Although, since 2013 the figures, although they have been decreasing, have been very similar, with 1,134 deaths in 2013, 1,132 in 2014 and 1.31 in 2015, being This last year was the one with the fewest deaths recorded until then. Starting in 2015, the number of deaths began to increase: 2016 recorded 1,161 deaths, while in 2017 it recorded even more, 1,198 deaths. However, 2018 ended with 1,188 deaths, a dozen fewer than the previous year, thus reversing the upward trend of the previous two years. 2019 marked the historical record of 1,057 deaths, the lowest number in history before the arrival of the pandemic.
In 2020, the number of deaths fell below 1,000 victims for the first time, with 975, which represents a reduction of 21% compared to 2019; while in 2021 it once again exceeded a thousand deaths. In 2022, 1,148 people lost their lives on the roads and in 2023 there were the aforementioned 1,140 deaths.
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