Melilla has fulfilled more than 80% of the actions of the Road Safety Plan for the year 2023, as explained by the Local Head of Traffic, José Carlos Romero.
The Government Delegation hosted this morning the Road Safety Commission that has monitored the degree of compliance with the Road Safety Plan that this body approved last year for 2023.
A Commission in which the Road Safety Plan for this year 2024 has also been approved, which, as explained by Romero, continues with the same structure as previous plans, and which are structured in five major activities, such as educational, informative, surveillance campaigns and actions in the field of mobility.
In this regard, the Local Head of Traffic has highlighted the road education activities carried out in the school environment. “Practically all Melilla schoolchildren receive or have received and will continue to receive some training in road education, which seems to us very important for them to adopt the most appropriate habits of all of us,” he stressed.
Romero also highlighted the delivery, by the General Directorate of Traffic to the Local Police, of a new kinemometer, which will allow “to increase its actions in terms of surveillance and control of speed through our streets.”
In his statement to the media, the local traffic manager revealed that over the past year, nearly 18,000 complaints have been filed for traffic regulations violations, both those related to the technical conditions of the vehicles –which include ITV, driving licence…– which amounted to more than 3,000, as well as violations of traffic regulations -which include speed, alcohol, drugs, use of mobiles, safety belts, helmet…, which has amounted to about 14,000.
Zero deceased
Regarding the accident, Romero regretted that 2023 resulted in bad data, since our city recorded 438 accidents with victims. What he did highlight was the fact that there were no fatalities, compared to the two deaths, calculated at 24 hours, that occurred in the year 2022.
As for the hospitalized wounded - those victims who require more than 24 hours of hospitalization in a health center - Melilla has had 21. There are 4 more than there were in the year 2022. And as for the non-hospitalized or slightly injured wounded, a total of 514 have taken place, which is 147 more than during the year 2022.
Almost all of these 21 victims, who constitute the hospitalized wounded, belong to the group of vulnerable people - motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians and cyclists - and specifically 9 of them are pedestrians, and 10 are motorcycle drivers.
José Carlos Romero recalled that the mobile phone is one of the main causes of traffic accidents and has stressed that “a mobile phone distracts you and abstracts you”. “If you are two seconds or three seconds abstracted, looking at what the mobile tells you, a WhatsApp, an SMS, or if you want to make a call, in that time the vehicle travels a few meters and you can have a range with another car or take a pedestrian in front of you,” he warned.