Laurence Dollimore
THE areas in Spain which had the most traffic incidents last year have been revealed.
There were 1.91 million minor traffic accidents in the country last year, an annual increase of 3.14% and the highest amount since 2010, according to TIREA.
Malaga province had the fifth highest number of minor accidents – meaning there were no serious injuries – just after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla respectively.
The Andalucia province had a total of 82,062 accidents, 5.38% more than in 2016.
Mondays and Fridays saw the most collisions, with an average of 270 on Mondays and 265 on Fridays.
Sundays had the least amount of collisions with an average of 122.
The regions where collisions increased the most last year were the Balearic Islands (5.62%), Ceuta (5.45%), the Community of Madrid (4.77%) and the Valencian Community (4.71%).
The number of accidents only fell in Melilla (-5.87%) and in three of the 17 autonomous communities.
They were Galicia (-0.86%), Extremadura (-0.29%) and Castilla y León (-0.16%).
The most populated autonomous communities naturally had the highest number of accidents in absolute terms.
In Andalucia there were 370,423 crashes in 2017; in Catalunya 292,214; and in the Community of Madrid, 269,517.
The picture changes if the number of accidents per 100,000 inhabitants is analyzed.
Through this prism, the places where it is most difficult to drive are the Balearic Islands (5,461 collisions), Cantabria (5,019), Melilla (4,959) and the Canary Islands (4,515).
The places where the accident rate in relation to the size of its population is lowest are, meanwhile, Aragón (3.177), Ceuta (3.269), País Vasco (3.450) and Castilla-La Mancha (3.515).
The most problematic moment of the year was June, when there were 176,619 crashes without injuries.
Each month there were 159,224 minor traffic accidents in Spain. This figure exceeds the historical average available for the last two decades.
Specifically, between 1999 and 2017, the average stands at 157,039 crashes without injuries per month.
