Spanish motorway death tolls show impressive improvement

Driving in Spain is a lot safer these days than it was a decade ago

Amid a debate about whether Germany should abolish its speed-limit-free autobahn rules comes some encouraging statistics that shows the dramatic improvements Spanish motorways have made in recent years.

This incredibly detailed data, published in The Guardian, boasts a wealth of figures comparing and contrasting European countries’ road deaths, looking at the proportion that occur on motorways as compared to rural or urban roads, and the overall total of road deaths per annum…

Now, anybody who has ever driven in Spain (especially British drivers used to the comparatively genteel experience of driving in the UK), will know that many parts of the Spanish road network can be rather hair raising.

Speed limits are relatively tame, but speed enforcement – in the form of speed cameras and visible highway patrols – is often lax. And while that may sound like Manna from heaven to a Brit grown weary of those annoying yellow speed cameras, a few words of warning.

Driving in Spain can be very much a macho experience. Not every driver is aggressive of course, but Spanish roads are no place for hesitance, reticence or good, old fashioned politeness. The culture is very much a ‘me first’ one, so anybody fresh to the roads needs to get up to speed – both metaphorically and literally – as soon as they can.

The infrastructure and design of some parts of the Spanish highway system is a little lacking. Often, sliproads on to fast-moving motorways are either way too short or almost non-existent, making one’s entry on to a motorway something akin to pot luck. Well, almost. Road conditions often leave a lot to be desired, too, and traffic build up is sometimes badly managed by the authorities.

But things have improved, and the country is certainly moving in the right direction. The data from The Guardian shows that Spanish road deaths per year have fallen from a whopping 1,148 in 2001 (far and away the highest in Europe – Germany’s 770 deaths were the closest runner up), to just 460 in 2009: a figure that is still much higher than all other countries bar Germany, but is an encouraging trend in the right direction.

So if you are moving to Spain and intend to drive in and around the Costa del Sol, be sure to read our guide to local transport and driving customs, and exercise extreme caution at all times.

Spanish roads – particularly the rather swish toll roads – are much better than they have ever been, but they still retain the capacity to give you a bit of a fright!