ARCHIVED - Road deaths in Alicante province fall 50 per cent in first half of 2022
Alicante province has the second largest decrease in the country compared to the death toll in 2019
The number of fatalities on roads in Alicante province so far this year is 50% lower than the death toll in 2019, the second largest decrease in any region in Spain, behind Madrid.
According to the latest report of the National Road Safety Observatory of the DGT, 12 people have lost their lives on interurban roads in the province in the first seven months of the year, half those recorded pre-pandemic when 24 people died.
The data also show a continuity in the positive trajectory with regards to deaths on the province's roads; last year, fatal accidents left 18 people dead by the end of July.
But the report doesn't compare the data with those of 2020, when Alicante was the province with the third highest number of fatalities over the 12 months, as the figures don't really give a fair representation due to the two months of confinement and low mobility.
It should also be noted that this report by the Road Safety Observatory only measures accidents on interurban roads, so doesn't take into account either accidents or fatalities on city roads and streets.
However, the fact remains that on interurban roads, the death toll has fallen in contrast to a rise at national level. Only Madrid has seen a bigger reduction with 13 fewer road deaths.
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But whilst there has been a significant reduction in the last three years, a dozen road deaths places the province, the fifth largest in the table, in 19th place nationally in the first seven months of the year. Ahead are many provinces smaller than Alicante, including Castellón.
The figures are not so encouraging at regional level, and the number of people who have lost their lives in accidents in the Valencia Community as a whole has increased by 10.9%.
So far this year, 51 people have perished on the region's interurban roads, up from 46 during the same period in 2019.
Castellón leads this increase with a 225% increase in the number of deaths on highways and freeways in the last three years, up from four to 13 .
The province of Valencia also recorded a notable increase, with a 44.4% increase in road fatalities, spiking from 18 to 26.
Nationally, the number of fatalities is also up compared to 2019. Between January 1 and July 27 2022, 640 people lost their lives on the road in the first seven months of 2019, 35 more than during the same period in 2019, up 5.8%. Last year, there were 549 road deaths over the seven month period last year.
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