The automobile association RACE has announced that Spain is one of the worst places for pedestrians in Europe.Both pedestrians and drivers are to blame for this state of affairs.Studies were carried out in 20 Spanish cities.

Spain has the second highest death rate of pedestrians i Europe with 14 deaths per million of population.Only Slovenia is worse with 18 deaths per million .Throughout Europe 8000 pedestrians are killed each year by motor vehicles.

However in Spain 43% of the deaths happened when the person was not using a designated crossing.Spain has the highest figure here followed by the Netherlands.Then there is the statistic that even when you attempt to use a crossing there are 25% of drivers who would fail to stop for a pedestrian at a crossing.They do appear to take more care if it is an elderly person crossing or a child.They may be more respectful of the elderly but even so the death rate for over 65″ is 41% of all of the pedestrians killed.52% of pedestrian deaths occur in cities .73% of deaths in children occur in cities too.

The RACE report gives a number of recommendations to both drivers and walkers.They also advise authorities on improving lighting at crossings,signposting and placement of crossings for pedestrians.Naturally they advise all pedestrians to use zebra crossings to cross the road.