Spain has the lowest death rate on the roads in the EU

Spain has the lowest death rate in the EU from traffic accidents according to the latest report from the European Transport Safety Council

A recent report by the European Transport Safety Council has revealed that Spain is the country in the European Union with the lowest rate of traffic accident deaths, which will be music to the ears of the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT), as they strive to keep the roads of Spain as safe a place to drive as possible.
With the sudden return of traffic to the roads after lockdowns disappeared, this summer alone, an estimated 50 million trips are expected to take place across the country, with the DGT running various campaigns to control drivers who might try to abuse the alcohol or drugs laws.

Spain heads the list, along with Latvia, and Lithuania, as the countries in the EU with the fewest road deaths in the period from 2001 to 2020, reducing fatalities by 75 per cent, although as far as Spain is concerned, if you only take the last decade, then the country is fourth on the list, showing a 45 per cent decrease in road fatalities, but, a plus factor is that between 2019 and 2020, deaths decreased by 22 per cent on Spanish roads.

Some voices – including the Spanish Association of Roads (AEC) – have been raised at times about the state of repair of the Spanish road network, with the country lagging behind the investment of other EU countries such as Germany, France, or Italy, with road conservation budgets reportedly having dropped from €1,300 million in 2009, to €760 million currently.

However, that initial investment seems to be one of the key factors in the last decade behind the 45 per cent decrease in deaths on the roads in Spain, with fatalities dropping from 2,478, to 1,366, placing Spain fourth, behind Norway, Greece, and Portugal.

If that initial investment in roads played its part, then probably so did Spain’s pioneering implementation of anti-drug controls on its roads, combined with an adjustment to speed limits, along with restrictions derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, although the report does point to the need for more specific safety measures for motorcyclists, one of the most vulnerable groups on the roads, according to the latest accident data from the DGT, as reported by malagahoy.es.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.