Chihuahua— Over a 10-year period, the state of Chihuahua has seen an increase in hospital admissions due to traffic accidents, with 95,000 cases, reported the organization Estrategia Misión Cero.
The organization detailed, citing figures from the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (Sinave), that “in the period 2014-2023, more than 95 thousand hospital admissions were reported due to road accidents, of which just over 17 thousand correspond to pedestrians being run over and more than 78 thousand are injuries in accidents between motor vehicles.”
Sergio Andrade, researcher and coordinator of the project, highlighted that in the case of Chihuahua there is a lack of attention to transparency, on the part of authorities, regarding road accidents, since these figures of assistance reveal that there is a serious problem and affectation in the physical integrity and health of the people of Chihuahua.
This increase is parallel to the increase in vehicles circulating on the streets, since the entity has a rate of 345 cars per thousand inhabitants.
It also highlights that Chihuahua ranks second among the states with the highest rate of deaths from traffic accidents, only surpassed by Sinaloa.
The rate of people killed and injured in road accidents per 100,000 inhabitants is 8.5, almost three times the national average.
Although this problem is multifactorial, some of the priorities for attention to change this situation would be focused on investing in alternative means such as public transport and prioritizing infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, among others that are not related to giving priority to cars as has been done in the last 10 years, the organization added.
“Sustained investment in vehicle infrastructure promotes high speed both inside and outside urban environments. In recent decades, Mexican cities have invested millions in road infrastructure and have completely forgotten about the population that moves on foot, by bicycle or by public transport,” the report states.
“In Chihuahua, for example, the latest housing census by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) shows that in the capital there is only 33 percent sidewalk coverage, which shows that the State’s public mobility policy has focused on private motorized transport,” he emphasized.
He explained that the almost exclusive investment in private vehicles “has led to the unsustainable acquisition of automobiles in the state.”
The report also indicates that, according to the Mexican Institute of Transportation, the average motorization index (number of vehicles in a given region per thousand inhabitants) in Chihuahua is 354.4 vehicles. This measure has grown by 8 percent annually between 1940 and 2010, which means that the number of cars has doubled every seven years for 70 years.
The study considers that the low investment in public transport in Chihuahua has discouraged its use.
“In Mexico, for example, at a national level 65 percent of trips made are made by public transport, but in Chihuahua capital only 16.5 percent of trips made are made by this means (Municipal Planning Institute of Chihuahua, 2018),” the report adds.
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