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Álvaro Soto
Madrid
Viernes, 10 de enero 2025, 13:10
Spanish roads recorded 1,154 fatalities in traffic accidents in 2024, 14 more than the previous year and the highest number since 2018. Despite this, there were more journeys than ever, totalling 462,888,133, a 3.15% increase compared to 2023, according to the provisional road safety report presented by the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT). "The figure of 1,154 deaths is unacceptable. We must neither accept nor tolerate that road mobility, an indicator of the country's economic and social vitality, comes at such a high cost," lamented the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, before announcing a series of measures to reduce accidents.
According to the DGT document, most of the deceased were travelling in a car (554), while 451 deaths were among vulnerable groups and means: 289 were motorcyclists, 11 were on mopeds, 46 were cyclists, 102 were pedestrians, and three were using personal mobility vehicles (PMVs), such as scooters. However, the most notable data was the significant increase in van fatalities, which doubled from 40 in 2023 to 79 in 2024, prompting Traffic to conduct an investigation to explain this rise.
The Ministry of the Interior will not stop at this initiative to reduce road mortality. Marlaska announced the installation of 122 new speed cameras (53 fixed and 69 section), particularly on motorways and highways, where fatalities have increased by 7%. There will also be an increase in alcohol checks (6.1 million were conducted last year) and drug tests (100,000 in 2024): alcohol is behind 26% of traffic accidents and drugs 13%. The minister reminded that Congress is debating an initiative to lower the maximum permitted blood alcohol levels from 0.5 to 0.2 grams per litre and from 0.25 grams per litre in exhaled air to 0.1 for all drivers.
This same bill calls for the prohibition of disseminating information about police alcohol and drug checks, as well as any other established for road safety reasons. In this regard, Marlaska urged drivers to report WhatsApp groups that alert about the location of police checks, a behaviour he described as "one of the most irresponsible one can have."
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