241 people have died in traffic accidents during the summer of 2024. This is a very negative figure and has increased by three deaths compared to the same period of the previous year. However, the DGT blames record number of trips that there was and also appeals to the responsibility of drivers. Although they say that they are going to redouble their efforts to achieve the objective of reducing accidents by 50% by 2030, the truth is that there is not much self-criticism in this regard or concrete measures.
The accident figures for the summer have been published and they have left us with the figure of 241 road deaths, added to other equally critical figures. Almost 241 people have died four people a day on averageduring the summer season. August was the worst month, with 132 fatalities (12 more than in 2023), while July recorded 109 deaths (9 fewer than in 2023). And that’s despite the fact that The number of fatal accidents has been reduced by six compared to the previous year. The number of victims requiring hospitalisation also decreased, but not significantly.
The reason given by the DGT is that the number of trips has broken records and there have been more than 97.7 million movements in the summer. That’s 4.1 million more than in 2023 and the highest figure ever recorded. Statistically speaking, the increase in fatalities might be understandable, but This is not about thatbecause we are talking about lives. The goal is to reduce the number of deaths by improving security and infrastructure, but there seems to be a certain stagnation considering the balance of recent years.
If we continue analyzing the accident report, we see that the majority of victims suffered accidents on secondary roads (73%) and the remaining 27% are recorded on motorways/highways. The most fatal type of accident is the exit of the track (88 victims), followed by head-on collisions (62 deaths). This type of accident is said to occur due to the invasion of the opposite lane with the presence of distractions and/or high speed.
As for the location of the victims, Andalusia is the autonomous community with the highest number of deaths, accounting for almost a fifth (46 deaths). Castilla y León follows with 30 victims, while in Madrid and Barcelona the number is reduced, which is logical considering that they are usually more the point of departure than of arrival for trips.
