One in two drivers who died in a traffic accident in 2024 tested positive for alcohol or drugs | Spain

Bad data for road safety in view of the report results Mortal Traffic Victims 2024carried out by the National Institute of Toxicology and presented this morning. One in two drivers who died last year in road accidents had consumed alcohol or drugs, according to the analysis carried out during judicial autopsies. The prototype of the offender is that of a man between 25 and 55 who consumes both on working days and on holidays. In the case of pedestrians, the figure lowers slightly, with four out of ten positive in both substances. The conclusions of the report have been released about two hours before one of the main operations of summer begins, which is expected to be 6.5 million of displacements along the Spanish roads until next Sunday.

The report has been prepared after analysis of 937 drivers and 195 pedestrians killed in road accidents during the past year. In addition to the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences (INTCF), seven autonomous communities that have specialized laboratories: Aragon, Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Basque Country, Galicia, Murcia and Community Valencian. It has been presented by the Director General for the Public Justice of Justice, Verónica Ollé. The main conclusions is that alcohol consumption has grown 1.6% compared to 2023, while drugs have dropped: cocaine, 3.5%; Cannabis, 9.9% and psychotropic, 4.3%. By sex, deceased men have meant 88,% of victims against 11.1% of women.

By type of vehicle, cars with 44%have predominated, followed by motorcycles, with a very high percentage, 37.8%. The two -wheel mobile park does not exceed 3%. A total of 221 tourist drivers positively against 191 that had not consumed any substance. In motorcycles, the ratio is 171 positive compared to 183 negatives.

Of the drivers who gave positive in the analyzes, 433 were for alcohol -0.3 grams of alcohol per liter of blood, the legal minimum for professional and novel conductors-, 154 in drugs and 107 in psychopharmaceuticals. In some cases there were combined consumption, the most frequent alcohol with cocaine (32 cases) and with cannabis (11) or the sum of the three (9). The INTCF has also analyzed the reduced rate and is pending to be approved in the Congress of Deputies -0.1 grams-, which made the number of positive to 452.

For days, working days have been more positive with 251 positive cases (55.5%) compared to weekends and holidays, with 201 (44.5%). As explained by the director of the INTCF, Jorge González Fernández, two out of three drivers exceeded the rate of 1.2 grams of alcohol per liter of blood, which supposes that they had put themselves behind the wheel violating the crimes against the road safety of the Criminal Code, which prohibit exceeding that rate.

Among the drivers who gave positive in drugs, cocaine is in the lead with six out of ten cases, followed by cannabis (43%) and amphetamines (13%). A total of 107 drivers tested positive for psycho -drugs. Another year is the benzodiazepines, with 53.3%. It is followed by antidepressants (51.4%), antiepileptics (20.6%), opioids (12.1%) and antipsychotics (8.4%).

Pedestrians, predominance of men

Of the 195 died pedestrians in traffic accident in 2024, 132 were men and 63 women. The largest number of deaths corresponds to people of 65 or more years. They have tested positive for alcohol or drugs 83 (42.6%), compared to 112 negatives (57.4%). Alcohol predominates with 23%, followed by psychotropic (20%) and drugs (10%). The predominant group of deceased pedestrians are people between 25 and 34. In the case of medicines, the study suggests that in the case of older people were taking some specific treatment at the time they were overwhelmed.

All these data have yielded a profile of the victims. In the case of drivers it is a man with an average age of 48 years, which has positively given 48.2% of cases, with predominance of alcohol and with a combined consumption in 12.5% of the analysis. In pedestrians, men also predominate with an average age of 56 years and a positive 42.6% and a combined consumption of 7.7%.

The general director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, stressed during the presentation that this analysis represents “a photo, a portrait of reality” of road accidents on roads, given the high level of the analysis. He has highlighted the severity that half of the drivers gave positive: “driving is a very serious issue, which needs the five senses and the test is this: half of the drivers were not in what had to be.” He has also influenced the high rate of bikers, since, in his opinion, he is “a certain risk” to put on a two -wheeled vehicle after having ingested alcohol or drugs. Another issue in which Navarro has influenced is in the relevance of reducing the alcohol rate to 0.1 grams: “The only safe rate is 0.0 and zero tolerance with alcohol. These results support the reform that is pending in Congress.”

The prosecutor of the Road Safety Room, Mario Jesús Sanz Fernández-Vega, has concluded that the report data is “demolishing” and that there is a risk of “normalizing the situation” and not separating the conduction of drugs and alcohol. He recalled that during the past year about 50,000 convictions were placed for this crime against road safety. “You have to act with the Diana Group, against that Men’s profile between 25 and 55 years that consumes daily and holidays,” he concluded. For his part, the delegate of the Government of the National Drug Plan, Joan Ramón Villalbí, stressed that the INTCF document collects “data to think and to act”.