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

  • Police call fortougher alcohol limits for UK drivers
    May 20, 2015
    The British Police Federation calling for the blood alcohol limit to be lowered. This call has also been backed by the campaigning road safety charity, Brake as well as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA). Evidence from Scotland where the drink driving limit was lowered during 2014 has shown a reduction in drink driving offences. This move would bring the UK into line with other European countries with regard to alcohol limits by reducing the level from the current 80mg/100ml of blood
  • Slovakian safety slides negatively
    January 9, 2015
    Slovakia has seen an increase in road crash deaths during 2014 compared with 2013. The country saw fatalities increase from 223 in 2013 to 258 in 2014. However the level of fatalities may be a statistical blip in that reported road crashes actually fell by 300 to 13,286 in all. Particular cause for concern was observed in the Nitra Region, which saw road crash deaths increase a shocking 132% and hit 51, the highest in Slovakia. Meanwhile the Trencin Region recorded the lowest road fatalities. Speeding on th
  • Latin America road safety plan proposed
    June 14, 2019
    A new report suggests key strategies to cut road deaths and injuries in Latin America. The report was commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropies and shows that more than 25,000 Latin American lives could be saved and over 170,000 serious injuries prevented by 2030 if United Nations (UN) vehicle safety regulations were applied by four key countries in the region—Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Brazil. The report was prepared by the UK-based Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The aim of the study was to estimat
  • Polish road safety improves
    September 8, 2023
    Polish road safety has seen improvements.