Spain: cyclist fatalities Spain 2011-2019

Although its popularity has experienced some decline, many Spaniards regularly practice cycling for transport, recreation, or sport purposes. Regrettably, some bike rides might have an unfortunate turn of events and end up in accidents where the cyclists involved were unable to pull through. This is the case for the 80 cyclists that were victims of fatal traffic accidents in Spain in 2019. This figure has been fluctuating over the past years, with its lowest point in 2011 at 49 fatalities and peaking in 2019.

Cycling accidents: the main causes and offenses

In 2019, the most common cause of traffic accident with cyclists involved was ignoring priority signs, with around 370 road offenses of this type filed in Spain that year. Not far from this violation ranked cycling on the wrong side of the road or prohibited roads, which totted up approximately 290 cases the same year. Due to this, over 4.7 thousand cyclists were injured in traffic accidents in Spain in 2019, and 322 required hospitalization as a consequence of their injuries.

Cycling in the European countries

The fluctuation of the number of fatalities in Europe differed greatly throughout the continent – the Czech Republic topped the list of countries that most reduced their cyclist fatalities, with 34 percent less cyclist deaths in 2016 compared to 2010. Austria, however, stood on the other side of the spectrum, ranking as the country with the greatest increase in fatal accidents with cyclists involved, which were 50 percent more common in 2016 than in 2010. In comparison to its European counterparts, Spain did not see as many cyclist fatalities, which amounted a much higher number in countries like the United Kingdom with nearly one hundred fatal incidents in 2019 or the Netherlands, with 203 cyclists killed on its roads that same year..