Pandemic curbs slash Spain's traffic deaths by 21 pc in 2020 to lowest on record

The number of people dying in 2020 from car accidents fell by 870, or 21%, while 3,463 people were seriously injured, the interior ministry said on Thursday, adding no fatalities were reported in the country on 59 days of the year. 

“This reduction is a consequence of the (health) crisis and the mobility restrictions. The state of alert has generated a halt on the economic activity, which, linked with other factors like home working, explains a decrease of traffic and the reduction of accident rate”, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters. 

From mid-March to late-June, Spanish authorities imposed one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns as the country was one of the most severely hit. Restrictions on tourism from abroad during the summer further reduced car traffic.