Nearly 3,700 people die every day from traffic accidents around the world.

Around 3,700 people lose their lives every day in the world due to traffic accidents, which cause 1.35 million deaths a year and are the main cause of death of children and young people between 15 and 29 years of age.

The burden falls disproportionately on pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, particularly those living in low- and middle-income countries, where 90% of victims die.

This is stated by the United Nations on the occasion of the World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Traffic Accidents, which has been celebrated every third Sunday in November since it was agreed upon by the UN General Assembly in 2005.

The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterrespoints out “a dark reality” in a message on the occasion of this day: “Every year, 1.35 million people lose their lives and 50 million more see how theirs changes forever as a result of traffic accidents.”

In the message, collected by Servimedia, Guterres points out that “it is possible to completely prevent this type of tragedies.” The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety, now in its third year, aims to halve road deaths.

This year the UN has launched a global road safety campaign in around 1,000 cities spread across 80 countries. Through the United Nations Road Safety Fund, initiatives are financed in low- and middle-income countries, since they are where around 90% of road accident victims occur.

“It is urgent that we continue to pay attention to this issue. I appeal to all donors to increase their much-needed financial and technical contributions. On this World Day, let us join forces to make roads safer for everyone, everywhere,” adds Guterres.

SPAIN

On the other hand, Spain is the seventh country in the EU safer on the roads by recording a rate of 36 deaths in traffic accidents per million inhabitantsmaintaining the same position as in 2021, three positions less than in 2020, when it reached the best historical position together with 2013 by climbing to fourth place.

Data from the European Commission, collected by Servimedia, indicate that six EU countries had better road accident rates than Spain last year, specifically Sweden (21), Denmark (26), Ireland (31), Germany and Finland ( 34 each), and the Netherlands (35). The community average was 46 fatalities per million inhabitants.

On the other hand, Spain is part of the group of 15 EU countries that last year increased road mortality compared to 2021, with 12% more.