According to a statement from the Government Delegation, 16 of the 43 fatal accidents that have happened on urban and interurban roads in the Region of Murcia since January were caused by distracted driving. This is 37% of the total.
This reason was responsible for 14 of the 62 fatal accidents in 2024, or 23% of them.
The Provincial Traffic Department is running a special campaign this week to help lower the number of risky behaviours by road users that put their own lives and the lives of other road users at risk.
Virginia Jerez, the Provincial Traffic Chief, said during the campaign presentation that the Traffic Department will keep an eye on about 16,000 cars.
As part of this program last year, 16,453 cars were checked, and 395 of them (2.4%) were reported. Most of these reports were about drivers who were using cell phones (66.8%), followed by reading (6.5%), and listening to music (4.3%).
Since 2017, distractions have been the biggest cause of fatal accidents in Spain, with the most accidents and deaths overall.
The Spanish Road Safety Strategy 2030, in keeping with the UN’s 2030 Agenda, says that “zero tolerance for high-risk behaviours” is a strategic area. This is in line with the integrated safety system concept.
The Strategy talks about how important it is to keep an eye on and watch people to lessen the effects of higher-risk behaviours. In this sense, it is important to make surveillance more effective by better planning and to employ new technology to make monitoring higher-risk behaviours more effective, especially by keeping an eye on how people use their phones.
So far, 27 towns and cities have joined the campaign: Abanilla, Abaran, Alcantarilla, Alguazas, Alhama de Murcia, Beniel, Caravaca de la Cruz, Cartagena, Ceuti, Fortuna, Fuente Alamo, La Union, Las Torres de Cotillas, Librilla, Lorca, Lorqui, Mazarron, Molina de Segura, Moratalla, Mula, Murcia, San Javier, Santomera, Torre Pacheco, Totana, Villanueva del Rio Segura, and Yecla.
Author: Derek Appleton
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