The Spanish traffic authority DGT has recorded 31 road deaths on the Canary Islands‘ country roads as of 1 October. Its road safety report for the Canary Islands since the start of the year recorded 17 fatalities for Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. This was 32 per cent fewer than in the same period last year, when there were 25 fatalities.
The western Canary Islands include Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. There, the number of fatal accidents fell from 23 to 17.
The year-on-year comparison for the Canary Islands as a whole was therefore 40 to 31 fatalities on rural roads. At the same time, the number of fatal accidents fell from 38 to 30.
Road safety in the Canary Islands: fewer fatalities regionally
Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura recorded 14 fatalities in accidents on rural roads. Compared with 15 fatalities in the same period last year, this represented a fall of 6.7 per cent. At the same time, the number of fatal accidents fell from 15 to 13.
The sharper fall on the western islands thus explains the figure for the Canary Islands as a whole. During the same period, the number of fatalities on Spanish roads fell from 868 to 820.
Accident statistics: urban traffic omitted from current DGT figures
The DGT figures cover only accidents on rural roads and do not include urban traffic. For the reference year 2024, the Canary Islands‘ statistical office, ISTAC, reports 3,857 accidents involving casualties in the Canary Islands. Of these, 1,963 occurred in urban areas.
These accidents claimed the lives of 69 people, 46 of whom died on country roads and 23 in urban traffic. In addition, 5,401 people were injured, 443 of whom required hospital treatment.
A previous report on fatal accidents in the Canary Islands describes a rise in fatal road accidents. The latest DGT figures show lower figures for both archipelagos compared with the same period last year.
«Nine fewer rural road deaths in Canary Islands as west drives decline»
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