Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1
Number of fatalities in road accidents updated to 2000 (%). Evolution 2000-2010 (CARE
2008, DGT 2007)
We first approach the indicators of state before addressing the indicators of
pressure and response. We have selected the number of fatalities in traffic accidents
as the main indicator, as one of the priorities within the EU is to decrease this figure
to half between 2000 and 2010. The values have been updated to 2000, and figures
for 2010 have been estimated by quadratic minimum regression (Fig.
1
). It can be
seen that the objective is being met, although generally more satisfactorily in the
EU-15 (72 in 2006 and 51.7 in 2010) than for the EU-25 (75 and 58), and that Spain
is following a similar trend (71 and 54). However, this progress is not homoge-
neous, either in European countries (68 and 46 in Germany, compared to Lithuania,
where fatalities increased to 118 and 132), nor in Spanish cities. Barcelona or
Madrid (with 60 and 36, and 69 and 44, respectively) shows greater progress than
AlmerÃa or Cadiz (with 100 and 94, and 96 and 99, respectively).
In addition to measuring the rate of progress, it is also necessary to measure
the current situation, and to compare areas on different scales. For this reason we
consider that this primary indicator should be complemented with other secondary
indicators, expressed in relative terms. The first of these relativizations is by
population (Fig.
2
).
In this case it can be seen that although there has been a similar rate of progress,
this progress has been more irregular, and particularly there is considerable difference
between the different areas. If we take 2006 as the year for synchronic comparison,
we can see that the EU-15 value (76) is also lower than the EU-25 value (85), but
here it is more disperse with both extremely low values (Malta, 25) and extremely
high values (Lithuania, 223). In Spain, the value is slightly higher (92) than for the
EU, and widely dispersed by province (from values around 36 in Vizcaya, through
to shockingly high figures, 330 in Cuenca, with an ongoing upward trend).
