At the end of 2023, Andalusia has registered a total of 197 deaths in traffic accidents, which is 12% less than the previous year (223), as announced this Thursday by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande. Marlaska, in the presentation of the Road Safety balance for 2023, at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).
The 197 deaths on Andalusian roads are the lowest number since 2020, when 185 deaths occurred, since in 2021 the number also exceeded 200 (209). In any case, Andalusia continues to be by far the autonomous community with the highest numbers of road accidents. Behind are Catalonia (152 deaths) and Castilla y León (119) as other regions that have more than a hundred deaths.
At the opposite extreme are La Rioja, the Foral Community of Navarra and Cantabria, with 11, 13 and 14 deaths throughout 2023, respectively.
At the press conference, the head of the Interior indicated that in 2023 there were 1,048 fatal accidents on Spanish roads, in which 1,145 people died and another 4,495 were seriously injured.
“We have had more displacements than in 2022 and there have been no more deaths than in 2022. These are bad data, as they are every year, but it is necessary to contextualize them to adopt the necessary measures and correct them as much as possible,” Marlaska stressed.
The Minister of the Interior has highlighted that 2023 is the highest year of road mobility since 2014 but it is the fifth lowest in accidents since that period. “The majority of viable accidents are avoidable”, he has stated.
The Ministry frames the 2023 figures in a context in which long-distance trips, the vehicle fleet (1.7%) and the driver census (0.4%) have increased by two percent. Specifically, 448.7 million road trips were made, with a vehicle fleet that stands at 36.6 million and a driver census that rises to 27.8 million.
“Traffic accidents are mostly avoidable and reducing these tragic figures is in our hands if we all redouble our efforts with that objective,” said Marlaska, who has called for the “responsibility” of drivers. In this sense, she has stressed the need to avoid distractions, respect traffic rules and use safety systems, “three simple elements that can greatly reduce these dramatic figures and the human tragedies behind them.”
