Easter traffic deaths up from last year

The number of people killed on Spain’s roads over the Easter vacation this year has come in higher than the final death toll for the same period in 2013, the DGT traffic authority reported on Monday. Between April 11 and midnight Sunday, a total of 32 people lost their lives on Spanish roads.

Last year, 26 deaths were reported during the same period – the lowest Easter fatality figures since the government began recording such data in 1962.

DGT officials warned that the number of deaths could rise once all accident figures are collated, given that these figures only cover Spain’s highways and freeways. What’s more, Monday is a holiday in Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Valencia, Navarre and the Basque Country, meaning that the Easter period has not yet finished nationwide.

DGT officials warned that the number of deaths could rise once all accident figures are collated

One of the worst accidents seen this weekend took place near Vilalba, Lugo when two people were killed in a collision between two passenger vehicles on highway LU-120. The accident took place at around 12.10am Monday. In another incident, a five-year-old girl lost her life when two vehicles collided on the A-8125 highway between Arahal and Morón de la Frontera, Seville province.

Despite the hike in road deaths this year, DGT officials said that fatalities are still down from levels seen 10 years ago, when a total of 102 people died in traffic accidents during the Easter break. Five years ago, the death toll for the same period was 46.

Some 12.5 million people took journeys over the past week – about half-a-million fewer than last year.

On Sunday, traffic jams were reported on many of Madrid’s major freeways as people returned home.