The number of road fatalities continues to rise in Spain and, although the increase is not significant, it does distance the country from the objective set by the Spanish and regional authorities of reducing these deaths by half until 2030. This is indicated by the latest data of the National Statistics Institute (INE) relating to the year 2023 and published at the end of last December, which indicate a total of 1,827 fatalities due to traffic accidents that year, 12 more deaths than in 2022.
In the opinion of Javier Larreapresident of the Occupational Risk and Prevention Observatory (OPRA), the increase in fatalities “should be a serious concern for the Spanish and regional authorities who have set the Road Safety Strategy 2030for which they have committed to halving the number of deaths in traffic accidents in 2019 (1,842 victims).
On the other hand, according to data from the INE, deaths due to falls in Spain are in first place in this ranking, exceeding the barrier of 4,000 for the first time and also surpassing suicides for the first time as the main cause of external death.
«From this Observatory I have been warning for several years that deaths due to falls are in a process of unstoppable upward evolution, breaking a new historical record each year. Since 2012, falls have been the first cause of accidental death in Spain, and since 2023 the first cause of unnatural death. And as long as a state of alarm is not declared on this matter, this bleeding that mainly affects people over 64 years of age will not be stopped,” says the president of OPRA.
Eight out of ten (84%) of people who die from falls are over 64 years old. The percentage increases to 95% among women). As regards the suicide deathsin 2021 the peak of 4,000 annual deaths was surpassed, in 2022 there was an increase of 5.6%, reaching 4,227 suicides, and in 2023, with 4,116 deaths, they remain above 4,000.
«Suicide prevention strategies and programs monopolized by psychiatry are proving to be little or no effective. We should seriously consider leaving this matter in the hands of interdisciplinary groups that would give this phenomenon a new approach,” they warn. OPRA.
The third cause of death in Spain is, according to the INE classification, drowning and chokingwith 3,692 deaths. Segregating each of the causes, we observe that 537 deaths correspond to accidental drownings and submersion (510 in 2021) and the rest, 3,155, to choking (2,994 in 2021).
Poisoning by drugs or psychotropic drugs
With 1,070 deaths caused by accidental death due to drug abuse and psychotropic drugs, in 2023 the barrier of one thousand deaths from this cause has been surpassed for the second time.
The head of OPRA recalls that “neither in Spain, nor in the State administration, nor in the autonomous communities, nor in the City Councils, is there anyone responsible for the prevention of accidents in society. He Ministry and Ministries of the Interior or the Security Departments They don’t think this is for them. “Mayors must think that the safety of residents is the responsibility of another administration.”
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