Spain sees biggest drop in road death toll in EU 17/07/2008 00:00

A study reveals that Spain’s road deaths fell the most in 2007 among the EU countries but points out the country still lags behind EU goals.

17 July 2008

MADRID - A study by the Spanish Automobile Association (RACC) reveals that Spain is the European Union country in which road deaths fell the most in 2007.

Despite the good news, however, RACC points out that Spain is still far behind EU goals to cut road deaths by the end of this decade.

The RACC said that deaths caused by automobile accidents in Spain fell 2007 by 1.2 percent to 8.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants versus the previous year.

Poland and Slovenia reported the highest death rate (14.6 deaths/100,000 inhabitants), with the safest highways being in Norway and the United Kingdom (each with five deaths/100,000).

High death rates
"Taking into account that we had very high death rates compared with other [European countries in 2005 and 2006], it is pretty clear that road deaths between 2001 and 2010 would fall substantially in our country," said RACC president Miguel Nadal.

By region the biggest rises and falls in road deaths between 2005 and 2007 were all in the north. Cantabria saw an increase of 18.5 percent, while Navarre and Asturias registered 53.2- and 35.9-percent drops, respectively.

[El Pais / Eugenia de la Torriente / Expatica]