MADRID, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The number of people who lost their lives in traffic accidents in Spain fell to a record low in 2019, the acting Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska confirmed on Thursday.
Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Pere Navarro, director general for traffic, the minister informed that 1,098 people died as the result of road accidents last year: 90 (7.6 percent) less than in 2018 and the lowest ever number since records began to be kept in 1960.
And 4,395 people needed hospital treatment as the result of accident, which is 6.7 percent down from the previous year.
Grande-Marlaska put the decrease in both fatalities and injuries partly down to a reduction of the speed limit from 100 kilometers an hour to 90 km/h on secondary roads, where there was a 9.5 percent fall in mortalities.
He insisted that excess speed (speeding) and the use of mobile phones while driving were among the main causes of most accidents, as well as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The minister informed that 2020 would see the introduction of a Special Measures Plan aimed at further increasing road safety, with extra signals, infrastructure and vigilance given to 100 accident blackspots, while this year will also see the speed limit reduced to 30 kilometers an hour in single lane urban streets.
