The subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, highlighted the increase in vulnerable users among the people killed in traffic accidents in the province last year, specifically accounting for 42% of the fatalities. This is indicated by the data analyzed at the meeting of the Provincial Traffic and Road Safety Commission, which presided this morning in the subdelegation of the Government in A Coruña.
In the same sense, he emphasized that 11 of the 26 people who died in the province are part of the groups of motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. Looking at the historical series is a fact that has been repeated since the year 19, representing for this quinquennium 40% of the deceased, the worst year being 2022 with 17 people deceased from these groups.
Regarding the rest of the data, María Rivas highlighted the decrease of 17 victims on the roads of the province in relation to the year 2022, going from 43 to 26 victims in the last year; thus 2023 is the second year with fewer people died along with the year 2020 in which it was 25. In the province in the year 2023 there were 26 victims in a total of 26 fatal traffic accidents. Even with that, “it should be noted that the descent is marked in the province, with 40% fewer people dead than in the previous year, which is also the most positive of the four Galician provinces,” he explained.
Rivas drew attention to the significant increase in the number of deceased people who did not wear a seatbelt: “We talked about the fact that last year 50% of those who died in tourism, and 100% of those who died in a van, were not wearing their belts.” To this reality he added the fact that seven out of ten tourist drivers who died in 2023 had tested positive for alcohol.
As for the concurrent factors in fatal accidents, 34% were due to distracted driving, followed by inadequate speed with 17%. Regarding the type of accident, 57% were road trips and 27% were pedestrian attacks.
The Commission addressed the strategies to combat this accident and these figures: “A strategy in which all administrations collaborate and that combines actions on infrastructure, a zero tolerance policy with offenders and planning,” said the subdelegate.
The subdelegate of the government took advantage of the meeting to highlight the prevention campaigns carried out by the General Directorate of Traffic, such as those related to the use of seatbelts, speed control on secondary roads, alcohol and drug consumption, or school and freight transport. In this sense, he indicated that on the next day 15 begins a new campaign of surveillance and control of the inadequate speed, which as seen in the meeting is one of the concurrent factors in 17% of the fatal accidents.
Provincial Traffic and Road Safety Commission
In today’s committee participated the Subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas; the head of the DGT in Galicia, Victoria Gómez; the Head of the Traffic Management Center of the Northwest, Ramiro Martínez; the Head of the Section of the DGT in A Coruña, Gumersindo Bóveda; the Head of Road Demarcation of Galicia, Angel de Río; the Head of Conservation Area of the Demarcation of Roads, Francisco Prego; the Head of Accidental Traffic López Dopico; Mónica Rodríguez, Provincial Deputy of Roads and Works, Alejandra Pérez, of the Galician Federation of Municipalities; Montserrat Paz, Councillor of Citizen Security and Interior of the city of A Coruña; the Councillor of Mobility of the City of Ferrol, Mª Carmen Pieltain; Belén María Docampo, Territorial Delegate of the Xunta in A Coruña; Martina Vega Aneiros, Territorial Delegate of the Xunta in Ferrico