November 20, 2023.- Vans are essentially a working tool. Even more so if we take into account the increase in e-commerce that has taken place in recent years, which mostly carries out the transport of its goods in this type of vehicle and that this week will live one of its highest points of activity with the celebration of Black Friday next Friday.
Specifically, this week the delivery companies estimate that they can make up to 4.6 million shipments per day, most of which will be made using vans. A vehicle that, although it continues to represent 7% of the national park with 2.6 million vehicles, in 2022 was involved in 9,242 traffic accidents with victims in which 221 people died (of which 79 were occupants of vans and 142 occupants of other vehicles or pedestrians involved in such accidents) and 210 occupants of vans were injured hospitalized. These figures represent a 7% increase in the number of casualties and a 30% increase in the number of deceased persons.
In addition, if we take into account traffic accidents (Report of traffic accidents at work carried out by the National Institute of Safety and Health at Work), we can see that the percentage of vans and vans present in this type of accident has also risen from 4.6% in 2021 to 5.1% in 2022.
On the other hand, in 2022 the number of drivers reported for speeding also increased by 20%, which continues to be the most committed offense, with more than 302,000 complaints, followed by others such as not having the ITV in force or not wearing the safety belt.
For all these reasons, the General Directorate of Traffic is once again launching, from today until Sunday, November 26, a special campaign dedicated to the surveillance of vans in which the controls of the agents of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard and the Local Police that join it, will be established on all types of roads, especially conventional ones, since these are the ones that register the highest accident rate, as well as in areas close to shopping centers, industrial estates and places of loading and unloading.
These checks will verify, among other aspects related to road safety, the speed at which they travelled, the documentation of both the vehicle and the driver, the correct placement and weight of the cargo transported, the presence of alcohol and/or drugs in the body of the drivers or whether it is up to date with regard to the Technical Inspection of Vehicles.
PECULIARITIES OF THESE VEHICLES
Keep in mind that driving a van is not the same as driving a sightseeing, even though both are driven with the same license. Vans have different dynamic and operational characteristics from other vehicles that make them different, not only in terms of driving but also in terms of the accident that it is convenient to keep in mind.