Traffic accidents claimed 1,004 lives on Spanish roads in 2021

In 2021 there were 921 fatal accidents on Spanish roads in which 1,004 people died and another 3,728 were seriously injured.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, the 2021 figures show 97 fewer deaths (-9%) than in 2019 (the year before the pandemic). 2021 was also the second best year in the historical series, only behind 2020, when 870 people lost their lives in traffic accidents, but that it is a statistic distorted by the effects of the pandemic.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said in the presentation of these data that "the balance of road accidents in 2021 indicates that we have maintained the positive trend of reduction in accidents that we have experienced in the last decade, but we must add that the assessment cannot be positive because 1,004 deaths on the road last year are too many".

The number of 3,728 seriously injured as a result of a road accident has also been reduced by 705 people, 16% less than that registered in 2019, when 4,433 people suffered serious injuries.

By type of road

In 2021, 723 people died in traffic accidents that took place on conventional roads (72%) and 281 on motorways (28%). This means that roughly 3 out of 4 deaths from traffic accidents in Spain occurred on conventional roads.

The accident rate of young people aged 15 to 24 increased, from 112 deaths in 2019 to 138 in the past year.

The figures presented on Friday by Minister Grande-Marlaska are provisional and refer only to fatal accidents that occurred on interurban roads.