BarcelonaA “very hard” weekend. This is how the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, described this Sunday morning, one of the most fateful weekends that have been experienced on the roads of Catalonia in recent months. In just 48 hours, up to 8 people have died in six traffic accidents. The fateful data has coincided with the day on which the World Day in Remembrance of Traffic Victims is celebrated. In the event held this morning in Barcelona, Parlon assured that behind these victims there are people “who do not comply with traffic rules” and assured that action must be taken “with all weight of the law”.
This morning the two occupants of a car died as a result of a double accident involving two lorries on the AP-7, near Vilablareix, in the Gironès. The events took place around six in the morning. Initially, there was a collision between the passenger car and a small truck, and both vehicles stopped on the side of the highway. Subsequently, a pig trailer rammed the two damaged vehicles and ran over the two victims, who were outside the car. Also this Sunday morning, a motorcyclist died in an accident on the N-260 in Llançà (Alt Empordà), after leaving the road for reasons that are still being investigated.
The three fatalities on Catalan roads this Sunday add to the five people who died on Saturday as a result of traffic accidents. Yesterday two young people died early in the morning when their car left the road in Cambrils (Baix Camp) and two other people were also seriously injured in the accident. Also in the morning, a motorcyclist died when he collided with a roundabout sign between Calafell and Cunit, in Baix Penedès. In the morning, in Jonquera (Alt Empordà) a woman died after being hit by a heavy truck. Finally, at night, a motorcyclist suffered a fatal fall in Montmell, Baix Penedès.
No deaths in the whole month
To understand the magnitude of this black weekend in terms of traffic accident fatalities, you only need to look at the data from the last few months provided by the Catalan Traffic Service.
Fatal victims on interurban roads in Catalonia
People who died monthly during 2024
Although this body only counts the accidents registered on interurban roads and not the accidents that take place within the streets of towns and cities, it can be seen how the number of people who died this weekend on the road is more higher than that of those who died on interurban roads during all the months of February, April or September. An alarming figure considering that, normally, in the month of September the number of journeys by road tends to be higher, as there are several departure and return holiday operations.
Since the beginning of the year, June was the deadliest month with up to 18 deaths on the Catalan intercity road network, followed by October (16) and May (14). Until this weekend, in the whole month of November there had been no deaths due to interurban traffic accidents in all of Catalonia, but the three fatal accidents with five victims – and three more victims on urban roads – have broken this positive trend.
Now, despite the severity of this fateful weekend, and taking into account that the Catalan Traffic Service insists that the only positive figure in traffic accident deaths is zero, it is true that in what we have of 2024 there have been 14 fewer fatalities on the interurban network than up to November of last year and 43 fewer than in the same period of 2022.
More heavy handed
At the event on the occasion of the World Day in Remembrance of Traffic Victims, the Minister of the Interior reiterated that many times those who cause traffic accidents are people who do not comply with the rules “and disregard respect for the lives of others consuming alcohol and drugs.” Faced with these situations, Parlon has said that one of the instruments available to the administration is to act “with the law in hand”, but he has also emphasized the need to carry out prevention tasks. In this sense, he has assured that the desire of the Spanish government to tighten the maximum allowed blood alcohol level seems to him to be a “good action”.
On the other hand, from the STOP Accidents platform they have demanded a state pact for road safety and that the laws be modified “for the benefit of life”. Among these changes, they have insisted on the need to eliminate the word imprudent of the Penal Code when it comes to homicide on the road. In the same sense, from the association for the prevention of traffic accidents PAT-APAT they have regretted that there is a tendency to “trivialize the risk” and have made a call to internalize the responsibility that entails driving a vehicle.
