According to DGT statistics, in 2022 there were 1,042 fatal accidents on Spanish roads in which 1,145 people died and another 4,008 were seriously injured. These figures represent 44 more deaths (+4%) and 425 fewer seriously injured (-10%) than in 2019, the reference year and prior to the pandemic. We might think that this is the leading cause of vehicle-related death, but we are wrong.
Pollution kills more than accidents
Once we have the data on traffic accidents in recent years in hand, it is time to know that the main reason for car-related deaths is due to pollution.
According to data from SEPAR (Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery), the Vehicle emissions cause about 10,000 deaths annually in Spain, almost nine times more than deaths from traffic accidents. 35% of the Spanish population lives exposed to polluted air and around 10,000 people die from it, a very worrying figure.
Regarding polluting substances, the nitrogen dioxide causes 6,085 preventable deaths each year in Spain and Brussels has already filed us for repeated non-compliance with the permitted levels. Tropospheric ozone, at ground level and which forms fog in cities, causes another 499 deaths a year in Spain.
Smoking causes nearly 60,000 deaths a year in Spain, while pollution can cause 10,000. But it should be remembered that a person who does not smoke and lives in continuous contact with high levels of pollution is comparable to smoking between 5 and 10 cigarettes a day.
“The Environmental pollution is one of the main risk factors for disease, which affects the entire human body, but, as pulmonologists, we must remember that the respiratory system, being more exposed, is its target organ. Pollution is the cause of the development or worsening of serious respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma, acute respiratory infections and many other harmful health effects.reports Dr. Isabel Urrutia Landa, pulmonologist and coordinator of the Area of Occupational and Environmental Respiratory Diseases at SEPAR.
An outdated and polluting car park
Two out of every three cars that circulate in Spain have more than ten years and 65% of these cars do not have an environmental label or have the least efficient one. In total there are 640,000 cars circulating in poor condition on Spanish roads and the situation tends to get worse because the national car park has an average of almost 14 years, compared to 11 for the European average.
The future should be the electric vehicle. However, the figures are not very optimistic with the projection. He goal of reaching 5 million of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2030 seems like a chimera at this time when just over 300,000 are circulating on our roads.
According to data from the Business Association for the Development and Promotion of Electric Mobility (AEDIVE) and the National Association of Vehicle Sellers (GANVAM), registrations of electrified vehicles (100% electric + plug-in hybrids) of all types (cars, two wheels, commercial and industrial) rose 21.8% in April, reaching 9,661 units. So far this year they have accumulated a rise of 31.7%, up to 40,951 units in 2023.