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There are four days left to finish 2019, also embedded in the second phase of Operation Christmas with 6.2 million trips. But everything points, even with the small rise in the accident rate this fall, that the year will end with the lowest number of deaths in road traffic accidents since statistics exist.
These started in 1960, when there were a million vehicles. Then 1,300 people died. More than five decades later, in 2015 they marked their minimum: 1,131 victims, but with 31.5 million vehicles.
For 2019, according to a calculation made taking into account the last two weeks of 2018; and the accident since September, the figure would have been reduced to the environment of the 1,105 victims. Traffic does not update its daily data since December 17 - when 1,053 were dead (8% less) to prevent the traditional press conference of the balance sheet of the year lose its main headline, although it has reported that in what we have Christmas 21 go dead .
In that press conference you should know the reasons that explain the evolution. That, by the way, gives continuity to the slight reduction (-0.8%) of 2018 that was confirmed during the summer, which recorded the lowest historical data both from the period -215 victims- and from the month of August.
So far, Pere Navarro has put the focus on the only major measure he has been able to approve at this stage at the head of the DGT: the reduction of the maximum speed on the road from 100 to 90 km / h, although that action - completed at end of January- has only affected 7% (11,000 kilometers) of the total network. And it should translate into a substantial decrease in accident in secondary roads.
The DGT aims to reduce the road limit from 100 to 90 km / h
The persecution of drugged or drunk drivers has also increased (in the last campaign they denounced 400 newspapers). And the fight against speeding was reinforced, adding more radars and camouflages that include in some small regions and dilapidated trucks. In addition, although the drones released in summer are few (11) and only three fine, they surely have a psychological effect like that caused by the dreaded - and very expensive to fly - helicopters with Pegasus radar.
Vulnerable users
On the other hand, it remains to be seen how the group of vulnerable users has evolved, which in 2018 already accounted for 48% of the total number of victims (including accidents in the city).
In particular, the rebound in the accident rate of motorists is worrying, while that of cyclists remains and to assess the case of pedestrians, it will be necessary to wait in mid-2020, when the final balance of 2019 is presented with 30-day deaths and city data. Because it is precisely in this scenario where the abuses and, in particular, those that affect the elderly have more weight. In fact, the last measure approved by Traffic has been the instruction that delimits the use of electric scooters in urban surroundings.
Likewise, it will be necessary to see how far the increase in large displacements has come, which, in summer alone, added 2.6 million more trips. And finally, that the DGT itself clarify what its main message is: whether to call "to reflection" as Navarro did at the end of November when the 1,000 deceased barrier was exceeded; or, as he has done his last institutional campaign, to thank because this year "we count less" tragedies.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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