• This afternoon sees the last in the series of symposia on the subject of road safety, held in Barcelona and Madrid over the last four weeks.
• Today’s talk will feature Pere Navarro, director general of Traffic, and Rafael Olmos, advisor to the Catalan minister of home affairs on transversal projects, Institutional Relations and Participation.

The abertis foundation today rounds off the series “Different perspectives for integrated action on road safety” with the talk to be held this afternoon with the planned participation of the director general of Traffic, Pere Navarro, and the advisor to the Catalan  minister of home affairs, institutional relations and participation on transversal projects, Rafael Olmos. Also due to take part are Manel Nadal, the Catalan government’s secretary for mobility; Josep Pérez Moya, director of the Catalan Traffic Service; and José Luis Giménez, business manager of abertis autopistas. The event will take place at 6.00pm in room 0 of the Macba gallery.

The series began in Madrid on 23^rd and 30^th September, to continue in Barcelona on 7^th October and today. The different symposia have featured Pere Navarro and Rafael Olmos, who were present at the opening session in Madrid; Bartolomé Vargas, the public prosecutor responsible for road safety; Maria Eugènia Domènech, president of the association of victims of traffic accidents P(A)T, Joan Boada, secretary general of the Catalan government’s ministry of home affairs, Francesc Narváez, councillor responsible for mobility at Barcelona city council, Pedro Calvo, councillor for safety and mobility on Madrid city council and Jordi Jané, fourth vice-president of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, among others.

The series was coordinated by Luis Montoro, president of the Spanish foundation for road safety and member of the scientific committee of the abertis foundation.

 Reflections by the Speakers

In his speech at the symposium in Madrid, Pere Navarro reiterated the goal of halving the number of traffic deaths by 2010 in comparison with 2001. The director general of Traffic pointed out that while in 2004 there were 128 victims per million inhabitants, by 2008 the figure had fallen to 68 people, which is lower than countries like Austria (81) or Denmark (72). “Sometimes we do not realise what we have achieved,” he said. Pere Navarro also pointed out the risk posed by distractions (40% of fatal accidents occur due to leaving the road) and alcohol (31% of the drivers who died in 2008 had more than 0.5 grams of alcohol per litre of blood).

For his part, Rafael Olmos pointed out, also in Madrid, that “study and research are key factors, along with the involvement of all the traffic departments, in reducing deaths on the road.” These studies have proved that “Installing speed control radars and preventive or informative systems at black spots in the country do not only reduce accident rates at that particular spot but also in a much larger area of influence.”

The public prosecutor responsible for road safety, Bartolomé Vargas, estimated during his talk in Barcelona that there will be 180,000 convictions for road safety offences this year. Between January and June there were 120,000. The prosecutor explained that most of the convictions in the first six months of the year were for driving with a blood alcohol rate of over 0.6ml per litre of air exhaled (some 70,000 convictions) and for driving without a licence (some 40,000 convictions). Even so, he stated that “We are only reaching a small proportion of those who offend.”

For her part, Maria Eugènia Domènech, president of the association for the prevention of traffic accidents, made it clear that “Family members and people close to those killed are the other victims, uncounted and unrecognised, some of them severely scarred for life.” For this reason, the president of P(A)T called for an office to support these victims, where they can get information and guidance, similar to the support offices which exist for victims of domestic violence.

Tenth Anniversary of the Abertis Foundation

The series “Different perspectives for integrated action on road safety” has been one of the highlights of the year in which the abertis foundation has celebrated its tenth anniversary. The symposia are part of the foundation’s Road Safety Programme, consisting of four broad lines of action: road traffic education in schools, awareness raising and educational activities, research work and symposia for experts.

Alongside its work in the field of road safety, the foundation also works to foster research into the impact of major infrastructures on the regions, especially on the population, the economy and the environment.