Road traffic accidents are the second leading cause of work-related deaths in Spain
The work commute is a high-risk activity with 239 fatalities per year, according to this motoring association report
Patxi Fernández
Madrid
Friday, 2 January 2026, 18:46
The commute to and from work has become one of the most dangerous activities for people in Spain. According to the second report on road safety at work by Spanish motoring association, the Race Foundation, road traffic accidents now account for almost 12% of all work-related accidents in Spain, claiming the lives of 239 people in the last year.
The data is compelling: road traffic accidents are now the second leading cause of all work-related deaths, accounting for 30%.
Despite the magnitude of these figures, the study reveals a critical disconnect between the actual risk and the preparedness of workers. Some 70% of self-employed workers admit to having received no road safety training whatsoever, while only 14% of employees have undergone practical training to handle risky driving situations.
This lack of training is compounded by a perception of latent danger: three out of ten workers report having already suffered an accident on the way to or from work, identifying the poor condition of vehicles (73%) and stressful working conditions (67%) as the main triggers.
This second report on occupational road safety was conducted using over 2,500 online surveys of employees (1,536 interviews), self-employed workers (515 interviews) and occupational risk prevention managers in companies with more than 50 employees (522 interviews). In addition, in-depth interviews were held with experts from business organisations, trade unions and public administrations, as well as a statistical analysis of key official data sources such as the INE (Spain's national statistics institute), the DGT (Spain's national traffic authority) and the Ministry of Employment in Madrid.
2026: the year of safe mobility
The publication of this report coincides with a legislative timeline that aims to turn these statistics around. With the recent approval of the Sustainable Mobility Law by central government, companies with more than 200 employees (or 100 per shift) are now required to implement 'sustainable commuting' plans.
Salaried workers
29% of employees report having suffered an accident while commuting and 21% claim it occurred during their workday.
As risk factors, these workers identify the poor condition of vehicles (73%), working conditions (67%) and poor road conditions (58%).
Self-employed workers
29% of the self-employed report having suffered a road accident on the way to work and 23% during their workday.
This group of workers is highly dependent on their vehicle for their business activity and identify several key factors that increase the risk.
Eight out of ten self-employed workers cite fatigue, always rushing around and stress as the main factors that increase the likelihood of an accident in their daily work.
"We are at a crucial moment", say representatives from the occupational risk prevention (ORP) sector. The designation of 2026 as the Year of Occupational Safety in Spain aims to standardise criteria and compel companies to view mobility not as an expense, but as a health and safety risk that cuts across all sectors.
Self-employed workers under pressure
The report focuses on a particularly vulnerable group: the self-employed. For eight out of ten self-employed individuals, fatigue, rushing around and stress are the factors that most increase their chances of having an accident. Their total dependence on their vehicle to generate income creates a "perfect storm" of fatigue and urgency.
Race (the Royal Automobile Club of Spain) and prevention associations are urgently calling on the authorities to modernise the vehicle fleet - one of the measures most highly valued by those surveyed - and to improve infrastructure maintenance, in an effort to stem this tide of accidents that, far from decreasing, has become a constant shadow over the daily working lives of millions of people in Spain.
Occupational risk prevention
From the perspective of ORP managers, mobility is a risk that cuts across all parts of any business, even those outside the transportation sector , according to the study.
In this regard, they acknowledge significant progress in the culture of prevention - 82% believe that occupational road safety has improved - but warn that there is still some way to go to fully integrate it into internal procedures, given that only six out of ten companies have specific protocols and perceived risk levels remain at only medium-high levels.
Figures on work-related road traffic accidents
In 2024, there were 76,327 work-related road traffic accidents, representing 11.8% of the total number of occupational accidents. Of these, 28% occurred during working hours (21,334), while 72% occurred during commuting toor from work (54,993).
In these accidents, 239 people lost their lives, 104 during their workday and 135 on their way to or from work.
Furthermore, commuting-related accidents account for almost 30% of all work-related fatalities, making them the second leading cause of work-related deaths.
In their opinion, the approval of the new Sustainable Mobility Law represents a decisive tool that will allow for the wider implementation of mobility plans in companies and the standardisation of criteria.
Specifically, the law states that "workplaces with more than 200 employees or 100 per shift and for whom the primary place of work is the workplace must have sustainable mobility plans for commuting ".
In fact, safe and sustainable mobility plans are the tool most highly valued by ORP experts and managers, as their implementation will allow for risk analysis, improved travel planning, fleet modernisation, better maintenance and the promotion of safer alternatives.
