Encouraging News Statistics

I have been looking at the report of Deaths on Spanish Roads for 2016, which is a morbid report at the best of times, but this year it does makes good news out of bad.

The Director General of the DGT has reported that the provisional numbers for 2016 indicate that there were 1,038 fatal incidents on all of Spanish roads during the calendar year 2016 which resulted in 1,160 deaths, plus 5,067 people needing hospital treatment for their injuries.

However, in 1960 when results were first tabulated there were one million vehicles travelling Spain's roads, and today there are 32 million. On average three people died every single day during 2016. In 2000 there were 11.6 deaths every day and now it is the aforesaid 3.2 with a lot more traffic. For instance, although the number of deaths went up in 2016 over 2015, there was a great jump in traffic in just that one year to 392 million long-haul journeys , an increase of 18.5 million journeys.

In 1960 there were 1,300 road deaths and 1 million vehicles to 1,160 in 2016 with 32 million vehicles, an increase of 32 times more traffic congestion.  In realistic terms that is really encouraging. In the intermittent period we have seen a lot of outrageous behaviour including stupid drunken stuff with people seeming to deliberately want to kill themselves. Unfortunately they also killed people who were not planning to die that day.

Last year 214 motorcyclists died principally due to too much speed. Speed usually is a factor in fatal crashes, combined with other things such as inattention due to distractions, and perhaps the number one sure fire cause being simple exhaustion leading to drivers dropping off to sleep.  If we have to drive for long distances it cannot be over emphasised enough that we get lots of rest. Ideally that should be planned into our journey. Young people should plan to stop every two hours for a rest. Most likely they will not because their powers of concentration allow for longer periods of focus, but they should do so anyway.

The problem with exhaustion is that we start to feel a little drowsy but we think we can carry-on a bit farther. We´re almost there and suddenly you snap awake having closed your eyes. If you get to do that you really did only close your eyes for a Nano-second. Any longer than that and you will most likely  be counted as part of the statistics.

It has happened to me, and I am someone who is acutely aware of how that happens. The older I get the more rest periods I have to factor in which means having to leave home that much earlier as my journey will take longer.

Another cause of road fatalities can be so easily avoided and it is this: even if you may have to drive at anytime during the day, simply avoid adding alcohol to the things that may impair your judgement. Simple, just be a grown up responsible person. So many really horrible crashes occur over festival and holiday periods when we load up the car with family and as the driver we engage with everyone else in having a few drinks for the road.

For those surviving family members to learn that a whole family has been wiped out because Mom or Dad didn't have the common sense to simply not have a drink is so sad that it is off the scale of sadness.

The healthy activity of pedal cycling is on the increase in Spain, and is to be encouraged. Roads systems are being developed to include safe lanes for cyclists, yet time and time again we see cyclists totally ignoring these pathways, preferring instead to ride out in the motorised traffic where they get knocked off their bikes and killed. I wish I could know what their last thoughts were.

During 2016 there were 118 pedestrian deaths, three more than during 2015. This is an area where we need to take a moment to give some focus. As more cycling lanes are integrated into sidewalks we have a situation where pedestrians are placed into the paths of cycles, some travelling at speed. It only takes a person to step to the side without being aware that they have entered into the path for a moving vehicle and the result can be two fatalities. Such a collision will involve two people who are at their most vulnerable, and especially if one is an older frail person there will most likely be a fatal outcome. The cyclist will be thrown and should he or she land in an awkward manner that could be the end for that person.

To add to the problem cyclists don't seem to appreciate that the rules of the road actually apply to them as well as all other traffic. We are going through a learning curve where a lot of these people don't wear headgear. I guess they must think their heads alone are sturdy enough to cope with crashing into an immovable force. They will learn, and then die.

I offer a serious suggestion that cycles be fitted with a mandatory warning system much like those for lorries when reversing. A bell needs to be fitted that rings frequently warning pedestrians of an oncoming cycle.

To conclude, although there is much more work to be done by all of us who use the roads, Spain suffers a loss of 36 road deaths per one million inhabitants versus the EU average of 52, making Spain's roads some of the safest, but that is cold comfort if someone you have loved so much becomes one of those who will lose their lives during 2017.

Drive carefully, the life you save maybe your own, or better, it may be mine. 

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael