Skip to main content

Spanish road safety hits plateau

Strong measures in Spain have helped reduce the country’s road fatality rate enormously in recent years. Tougher enforcement of road rules commenced in 2004, with a notable drop in speeding and drink driving, resulting in a reduce rate of crashes. However a recent report from the Spanish motoring body RACC reveals that the figures have hit a plateau, with road fatalities for 2015 similar to those in 2014. This is the third consecutive year that Spain’s road fatality rates have remained broadly unchanged. Th
January 7, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Strong measures in Spain have helped reduce the country’s road fatality rate enormously in recent years. Tougher enforcement of road rules commenced in 2004, with a notable drop in speeding and drink driving, resulting in a reduce rate of crashes. However a recent report from the Spanish motoring body RACC reveals that the figures have hit a plateau, with road fatalities for 2015 similar to those in 2014. This is the third consecutive year that Spain’s road fatality rates have remained broadly unchanged. There were 1,130 road fatalities in Spain during 2015. However RACC did also comment that given the upswing in the Spanish economy following the downturn of 2008, transport and mobility levels have increased in the last three years. In this respect, that crash levels have remained static despite increasing traffic volumes shows that there has been a gradual gain in overall road safety. But the data also shows that there is a need for a new focus and new strategies to further lower the country’s rate of vehicle crashes, moving beyond addressing speeding and drink driving.

Related Content

  • Australia’s road safety problems are a cause for concern
    January 23, 2019
    The Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) has highlighted key problems with road safety. According to the ARRB, these issues must be addressed if Australia’s road casualty rate is to be reduced. Road death tolls are being reduced as he latest results show, but more work needs to be done. According to the ARRB, the road death tolls in Victoria dropped 20% for 2018 when compared with the previous year. This is a major improvement, showing the gains made by Victoria’s road agency VicRoads and the state’s Tr
  • GHSA: Pedestrian deaths fall for second year
    July 18, 2025
    However, despite overall progress in the US, alarming trends continue for hit-and-run incidents, especially at night and in places where there are no sidewalks, according to the GHSA - Governors Highway Safety Association.
  • European road safety alert
    December 18, 2024
    A European-wide road safety alert!
  • Distraction poses increasing risk to driving safety
    July 21, 2014
    In the UK a number of road safety campaigning groups are warning that driver distraction from mobile phones will become a bigger killer than drink driving by 2015. While cellphone use by drivers is banned in the UK, penalties are still light and enforcement lax. Drivers still frequently use cellphones while behind the wheel. Suggestions have been made to double the penalties facing offenders, but if this ruling is accepted it will still take time to implement. And some say these tougher penalties are still