SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, May 9. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Distractions make up, together with speeding and the consumption of alcohol and drugs, the so-called ‘accident triangle’ on the road. In 2021, 1 in 3 accidents with deaths in Spain occurred for this reason, reaching alarming figures in the last decade: 238,000 accidents with victims, more than 30,000 seriously injured and 6,200 deaths.
In the Canary Islands, the percentage of fatal accidents caused by a distraction out of the total number of accidents is lower than the country’s average, with 26%. Between 2012 and 2021 the number of accidents with victims in the Canary Islands exceeds 8,800, with more than 1,100 seriously injured and 186 deaths.
On the other hand, although the number of accidents due to distractions has been significantly reduced between 2012 and 2021, its lethality has risen by 52% to reach 2.4 deaths for every 100 victims. The reason for this data is speed, a factor that significantly aggravates the consequences of distractions. Not surprisingly, since 2019 fines for speeding have increased by 26%.
These are some of the conclusions of the study ‘Life in a second. Distractions and accidents on Spanish roads (2012-2021)’, prepared by Fundación Línea Directa in collaboration with Centro Zaragoza based on the accident rate analysis of data from the DGT ARENA database (2012-2021) and the results of 1,700 surveys carried out throughout the national geography.
In the words of Mar Garre, general director of the Línea Directa Foundation, “we want to make drivers aware of the need to always maintain attentive driving because distractions, along with speeding and alcohol consumption, are one of the main causes of of mortality on the road. In this sense, we must be aware that nothing is important enough to put our lives and that of our family at risk”.
ABSTRACTED GOING, THE MAIN REASON FOR NEGLECTED DRIVING
Distractions reduce alertness while driving and significantly increase the risk of having an accident. For example, and according to the DGT, using a mobile phone while driving multiplies the risk of having an accident by 4, and sending a WhatsApp increases that risk by 23. According to the data collected by Traffic in the reports, 31% of the accidents by distraction it is produced by abstracted driving, followed by fatigue (30%), looking at the environment (13%) and interacting with the passengers of the vehicle (10%).
However, the great concern in terms of distractions behind the wheel is the use of mobile phones, but the difficulty in collecting it in the reports greatly limits its weight in the statistics. The figures speak for themselves: more than 13 million motorists (48%) admit to using it habitually while driving, and 600,000 admit to being ‘addicted’.
Distraction accidents usually occur on interurban roads (60%), on weekends (37%) and from rear-end collisions (27%). The driver in the accident is usually an adult man who gets confused, especially on long straight lines and at traffic lights.
Asked about the main reasons for distractions regardless of having suffered an accident or not, Spanish drivers acknowledge that they tend to fall into the ‘voyeur effect’ of other accidents (80%), manipulate the integrated GPS or on the mobile while it is running (50% ) and read WhatsApp messages (35%). Even more than 10% of them admit to being mistaken at the wheel for recording themselves with their mobile phones and interacting on RRSS while driving.
In the case of drivers from the Canary Islands, 73% say they get distracted when they see another accident, 58% use GPS while driving and 44% check WhatsApp at the wheel.
COMMUNITIES WHERE DRIVERS ARE MOST DISTRACTED.
Despite the progress achieved in road safety, there is still a long way to go in terms of awareness: 21 million Spanish drivers (76%) admit that they are distracted while driving and 1.5 million (5.4%) admit to suffering from these mistakes ‘almost always’.
By autonomous community, drivers from the Canary Islands, Region of Murcia and Castilla y León are the ones who say they are distracted the most while driving, while those from Aragón, Extremadura and Catalonia are the ones who do so the least. In the case of the Canary Islands, 85%, the highest percentage at the national level, admit to being distracted when driving, which means more than one million drivers. In addition, 100,000 claim to be distracted very often.
Distractions behind the wheel are behaviors that entail economic sanctions and withdrawal of points from the driving license, depending on their severity. Thus, for a year and as a result of the latest reform of the Traffic Law, using a mobile phone while driving entails a fine of 200 euros and the withdrawal of 6 points.
