málaga
Accidents on dual carriageways and secondary roads in Malaga left 33 people dead in 2011, the lowest number in forty years
10.01.12 - 11:50 -
Since 2001, the number of people who have lost their lives on secondary roads and dual carriageways in Malaga has dropped by almost 70 per cent. The number of deaths in 2011 was the lowest in the past forty years - in 1977 there were 65 victims - and is similar to the figures in the 1960s, when there were ten times fewer vehicles on the roads.
The same can be said of injuries which have been caused by traffic accidents. The number of people suffering serious injuries has experienced the same downward trend, dropping from 649 to 181, and the number of minor injuries, which in the past two years has dropped below one thousand for the first time, was 837 in 2011. The authorities say there are several reasons for this reduction in the injury rate.The head of the provincial Traffic Department in Malaga, Trinidad Hernández, attributes the lower number of accidents to various factors, including road safety campaigns, the points system on driving licences and the imposition of more severe penalties. “People are more aware now”, she says.
Strategy
Most of these measures are part of the strategic plan designed by the Traffic Department for the period between 2005 and 2010, which aimed to reduce the number of deaths by 40 per cent. Spain used to be one of the countries with the worst records in Europe, with 128 deaths per million inhabitants. Speed control - a factor in more than one half of the accidents - seems to be behind the reduction in the death rate. “Covering Malaga with permanent speed traps has helped to reduce the average speed of drivers and this is now within permitted limits”, explains Trinidad Hernández.
Apart from the road safety measures put into effect by the DGT, the provincial chief points out that roads in Malaga have been improved. In the past twelve months four stretches of Malaga's mega-bypass have been opened so it now absorbs 32 per cent of journeys into the city, and the AP-46 toll motorway which opened on October 28th last year has taken up 23 per cent of the traffic which used to travel along the A-45 Las Pedrizas motorway. As well as these two new roads, a third lane has been added to the eastern bypass round the city.
Better traffic flow
The volume of traffic, on the other hand, has dropped in the last five years, mainly because of the economic recession. After reaching the figure of 230,000 vehicles a day on the access roads into Malaga in 2007, this has now dropped to an average of 194,000. However, Trinidad Hernández doesn't believe that this has had an effect on the accident rate. “If traffic is flowing smoothly, people tend to drive faster and that increases the risk of accidents”, she explains.
For the president of Automovilistas Europeos Asociados (AEA), Mario Arnaldo, the key lies in the improvements to infrastructure and the active and passive safety systems of the vehicles. He points out that coaches are now fitted with safety measures which weren't obligatory before and he believes that has contributed to the fact that accidents on public transport are not as serious as they used to be.
This representative of the AEA drivers’ association considers Spain’s present accident rate to be at an “historic” level and says it is especially significant in provinces such as Malaga. “The figures which are being registered now are the same as in the 1960’s, although the situations are not comparable”, he explains. Mario Arnaldo believes that it will be very difficult to reduce the figures still further. “They would have to carry out microscopic surveys in order to know on which roads and at which exact points they have to act in order to avoid accidents”, he says.
Control
Another major reason for the drop is greater control over the highways by the Guardia Civil. “Drivers know that they can’t speed and they know that they can’t drink and drive; they have to be careful these days and they know that if we catch them we will take them to court. This message has had an effect on society”, comments an officer with many years experience in the Traffic squad.
Police vigilance has intensified in recent years with massive campaigns such as those about drink-driving or the use of mobile phones when driving. The latest campaign has just ended and it was planned to coincide with the traditional Christmas dinners which are organised by companies for their staff. In just one week before Christmas, nearly ten thousand drivers were breathalysed in Malaga to see if they were driving under the influence of alcohol. 135 of them were positive. The figure represents 1.4 per cent of the total but in 2005 it was three per cent, which shows that there has been a change in drivers' habits.
With the aim of putting a stop to the accidents, the Guardia Civil is studying the reasons behind them, which range from driver distraction to excessive speed and which can often occur at the same time. From their findings, they have put campaigns into effect regarding the use of seatbelts and mobile phones and have checked more than 28,000 drivers in Malaga this year, of whom between 2.6 and 4 per cent have been caught contravening the law.
Rear seatbelts
“We have really stressed that it is obligatory to use rear seat belts to such an extent that most people - more than 85 per cent of passengers - do wear them now” says the head of the Guardia Civil’s Traffic Squad in Malaga. “All these factors have contributed to the fact that many accident victims who would have died, years ago, now suffer serious injuries instead, and those who would have suffered serious injuries now end up with injuries which are not as bad” explains this Guardia Civil officer.
What needs attention now, according to the statistics, is the case of motorcyclists and pedestrians, who between them have formed almost half of the number of deaths in 2011. The main cause of death in urban areas is people being hit by cars and there were five victims in 2011, which is one more than in 2010. In the case of two-wheeled vehicles, fatalities have dropped by 25 per cent compared with 2010, dropping from 14 deaths to 10, although motorcyclists continue to be one third of the total of victims, which is a very high percentage in comparison with other provinces.
