The New Year extended weekend has not passed without tragedy, and the roads have sadly played their part in changing some people’s lives, and not for the better.
On Sunday, one person, a 71-year-old woman, was killed and another five were injured, three left trapped in their vehicles following a head one collision on the N-332 coastal road near to Santa Pola. An investigation is being carried out to ascertain the details of the tragedy which required the assistance of an emergency helicopter.
In Valencia on New Year’s eve a 46-year-old man was knocked down and killed in Valencia whilst crossing the road. The Local Police are investigating reports that the victim was talking on his mobile phone at the time of the incident which left him with fatal injuries.
In fact, these two tragedies bring the year to an end which has been the worst in terms of road fatalities in seven years in the Valencia Region.
In total, 132 people have lost their lives on the region’s roads in 2018, a figure not seen since 2011. Even worse, the region has displayed a serious balance considering that nationally the numbers have shown a slight decrease, albeit by just 2%. However, we must also add another 31 fatalities to the total, as they lost their lives on roads not managed by the DGT, so local and town roads in the region.
In 2017, 113 people died on the main road network across the region, and so the 2018 figure represents an increase of 16%, leaving Valencia in third place in terms of road deaths per region, Catalonia being at the top and Andalucía in second place.
Moreover, the fatality rates of motorcyclists has increased by 27%, with cyclists showing a similar increase.
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